Twilight: Daylight of Darkness
by Sailor FoxFire
Summary: Adopted from MidnightCarnaval. Originally named Twilight: A Different Versions. WHEN LIFE OFFERS YOU A DREAM... What if Twilight had had a darker beginning? What if death and Darkness had stalked Bella before meeting Edward? What if her dreams were born from nightmares? How would it change the story? How would it change the characters? Follow me into this darker version of Twilight
1. Preface

**Preface**

 **Bella POV**

WHEN LIFE OFFERS YOU A DREAM… Yeah life offers some a dream, but all I've ever received of it are nightmares. What do you do when all you have in life are nightmares? Is there a dream that can be found in a nightmare? Is there such a thing as a dream? When you have nothing to live for, how can you have a dream? I stared at the knife in my hand for a few minutes. I didn't need to gather courage for this, but I didn't know what I waited for. I felt the blade slash into my arm and my blood flow freely… Soon this nightmare would end…


	2. Chapter 1: Nightmares and Dreams

**Chapter 1: Nightmares and Dreams**

 **Bella POV**

My name is Bella Swan, and I am 17-years-old. My life has been a living nightmare. When I was 16, I moved away from my mother's abusive home in Phoenix, Arizona, to my father's abusive home in Forks, Washington. And you may wonder why I chose one abusive home over the other. Well, you see a while ago my mother married my stepfather, Phil Dwyer. He was great at first. He would take me to his games and make my mother get a big goofy grin just by walking into the room. But that all changed when my mother had to go out of town for a week when I was 14…

 **~Flashback~**

 _"Hey Bells can you come here for a sec?" Phil called from his bedroom. I set down my dog-eared copy of Shakespeare's Caesar, and walk into his room and froze with confusion and a bit of fear. Phil was only wearing his boxers, and had this grin that made me want to hide. It was a grin that a lion might give to a deer before pouncing._

 _"Ummm… what do you need?" I asked, I could feel the confusion on my face._

 _"Bella, Bella, Bella," he chanted with a look of mock disappointment on his face. "I got your report card in the mail today, and you have a C in math. That's very bad Bella. And bad girls get punished." A perverted smile spread across his face._

 _ **No way,**_ _I thought._ _ **Phil's too nice. Maybe he just wants to ground me. Please God let that be it.**_ _"I'm s-sorry," I stutter out._

 _Phil shook his head and smiled. "Not good enough Isabella!" With that statement, Phil latched onto my arm and slammed me onto the bed. I scrambled to move, but he already had my hands pinned above my head. His rancid breath washed over my face, and he whispered, "You should have behaved Isabella, now I have to punish you." With one swift motion he ripped off my shorts and panties, and threw them across the room. I struggled and cried as he fumbled with himself. He slapped my cheek._ **Hard** _. I bit my lip, to stop from screaming, and then I was torn in two. A bloodcurdling scream filled the room as he continued to pound into me. "Teach… You…To…Misbehave," he grunted. I just lay limp and prayed he'd finish soon. About five minutes later, he grunted and got up from the bed, as if nothing happened. When he reached the doorway, he looked back. "Oh Bella, if you tell a soul I'll hurt you so bad you won't be able to walk right for a month." He then left the room with me crying in a heap on the fitly mattress._

 **~End Flashback~**

After that day, Phil would look for any reason to " **punish** " me. Something as innocent as being late for a class would mean harsh retribution. I would be beaten everyday before my mother got home from work, and every night he would creep into my room. He even went so far as to start selling me like a prostitute, first to his friends, then to anyone who would buy me. From this, I ended up having children, 8 beautiful babies, who are the only things I had to live for… though I can stand no more…

 **~Flashback~**

 _I dreaded the last bell of the day because it meant that I would have to go home and face Phil. It had been a little over a year since he started abusing me and every day just got harder and harder. I tried everything I could to prevent myself from being beaten, I was even the top student in my school and one of the top in the county and was even in the Honor Roll Society just to try to avoid being harmed, but nothing helped me. Phil made up excuses to hurt me and even did it without one. As if that had not been bad enough, Phil started selling me off like a prostitute a few months ago, first to his friends, then to anyone who would buy me, all while my mother was not at home. He even made up excuses to her so that the men could buy me overnight and she wouldn't suspect. My mother was blind to the monster that she had married. I'd tried telling her once, but she wouldn't even listen to me and Phil made me pay later. I was hospitalized for over two weeks and had been put in a coma for 3 days because of his beating. I knew that I'd been examined, but the doctor that had examined me was actually a friend of Phil's who often bought me and so he hid any evidence of the assaults. It was why I barely went to the hospital anymore, because the one place where I could hopefully find help was useless to me. I broke out of my thoughts as I arrived at my house to find a black Mercedes parked in my driveway._ _ **Looks like Phil's lined up an expensive buyer this time. Most likely I'll be spending the night with them,**_ _I thought to myself with dread. The expensive ones were usually the worst because they would buy me not only for sex but also to beat me, and the torture would last for at least one night. It was then that I remembered that my mother had left for California and would not return for at least 3months, possibly longer. Her parents had recently died and their will left everything to me and necessitated her to fly out to Napa, California in order to settle the estate and get my inheritance since my grandparents, though I'd never even met them, had left everything to me rather than to her, but because I was a minor and she was my guardian, she had to go settle things. My mother had actually been happy that the inheritance went to me since it was what she had wanted so that I would be able to go to college and be set for life. My grandparents had won the lottery 15 years ago, on the very day I was born actually, and had walked away after taxes, with a lump sum of cash of 34.6 million dollars and a payment plan of 1.5 million a year with increments of 2.5% every year for 10 years. At the end of the payments their bankroll was of 305 million dollars and due to some good investments by my grandfather he had increased it to 345.3 million dollars._

 _My mother may have been happy with this outcome, but Phil sure wasn't. And as a result he became even more abusive towards me. I could only pray that I would reach 18-years-old in one piece and be able to take my money and disappear for good since the will stipulated that no one, not even I, had access to the money until I turned 18 when I would be legally able to take control of my inheritance. My grandparents had done this to prevent my mother from squandering my inheritance away, knowing well how she was, and to prevent any man that my mother had relationships with from attaining what was mine. This is actually what pissed off Phil, because he had no way of touching a dime and knew that when I became of age, the money would be mine and I would be able to get away from him. With that kind of money I would even be able to get the representation and protection I needed to be able to expose Phil for the monster that he was. It angered him so much that the beatings became more brutal, and the clients that paid him for me were very keen in helping him out with this and abused me even more. Trembling, I walked to the door and opened it with my key, contemplating running, but the last time I had done that Phil had caught me and I ended up hospitalized for a week and got a broken leg from it. I entered the house to face my doom. "_ _ **BELLA!**_ _" Phil yelled as he saw me come in. "_ _ **COME IN THE LIVING ROOM, NOW!**_ _" Knowing it would be worse if I tried to refuse, I walked in the living room, hiding my trembling hands behind my back and faced the people that were sitting with Phil. Phil smiled evilly at me. "Well it's about time you got here. The boys were getting inpatient," he said as he stood up and walked up to me. As usual when this kind of '_ _ **client'**_ _came along Phil pushed me to them and forced me to kneel in front of them with my head bent downward, avoiding looking at them. "She'll serve your purposes well," Phil told them, obviously continuing a conversation that he had been having before I arrived._

 _I felt one of the men lift my face up with a cold finger, and saw him examining me. I took the opportunity to get a look at my next torment, curious despite myself because of the coldness of his skin and the stone-like feel of it. There were two strange men sitting on the couch before me, both were slight and short, one dark-haired and the other with hair so ashy blonde that it looked pale gray. They had a same powdery look to their skin, though not very pronounced, as if their skin were made of fine tracing paper. Their sharp, narrow eyes were dark burgundy. They wore very simple black clothes that could pass as modern but hinted at older designs. It was the dark-haired one that held my face and examined me with intensity as if I were some prized horse he was going to buy. His skin felt hard like a stone, but it also felt brittle somehow, like shale maybe, and was icy cold to the touch. He was pale white too, paler than me even, which I found a little hard to believe given that I always thought I was part albino because I never tanned despite living in the Valley of the Sun for most of my life, as was his companion, who also examined me with great intensity. "She will do," I heard the dark-haired one say after a moment as he dropped my face. My heart sank; I'd hoped that they would not want me; I didn't like the sound of their voices, or the dark menace in their words._

" _The price?" the ashy blonde one asked without missing a beat. They spoke in_ __ _a smooth tandem; their voices so similar that if I'd not been looking at them, I would have thought that only one had spoken._

 _Phil smiled greedily, "$500, a night. Her mother does not like her being away for more than one night, but since she's away on business and won't be back for a few months, you can have her for however long you would like her."_

" _How long will her mother be gone?" the dark-haired one asked in a breathy sigh._

" _3 months at least. Longer as things develop," Phil answered. "She will, however, need to have her cell phone and contact her mother at least once a day, otherwise she will butt in on our transaction, gentlemen."_

 _The dark-haired one pulled out checkbook. "That is fine." He handed Phil a check. "The amount for a month. We'll see how things go from there. Inform us if her mother's schedule will change in any way."_

" _Of course." Phil then grabbed me by my hair and led me out of the room after picking up a bag that had been beside his chair on the floor and dragged me upstairs to my room. "Listen up you little bitch. These men have paid good money for you so you will treat them as they want and do all they want. Put these on now!" He pushed the bag into my hands and pushed me into the bathroom, at least he would let me change in peace. I closed the door behind me and took a quick shower before I changed into the outfit that was in the bag. It was a long black halter-top dress with a slightly low neckline that reached my ankles. The bodice was comprised of shimmering beads that stopped just below my breasts where the skirt began in an umpire waist. The skirt was two layered with a see-through black material as the over skirt and the shimmering beads continued down it in a swirling pattern. The back of the dress was very low, starting at just above my butt. There were black gladiator sandals with a 3-inch heel in the bag which I had to put on as well even though my balance would not permit me to walk in them without falling; at least they were wedge heels so that would help a little. If I weren't in this situation I might actually like this outfit, though it was far more extravagant than I would normally like wearing. I pulled my hair into a ponytail with the black clip that was also provided and stepped out of the bathroom to find Phil sitting on my bed waiting. He looked me up and down before laughing. "I can't believe they gave you that dress; a bitch like you's not fit to even look at it let alone wear it. Put on the red lipstick," he said and threw the new lipstick my mother had given me before she left. I put it on without a fight. "Now, grab the bag the dress came in, and pack your toiletry bag." I went to the bathroom and got the black leather purse that the dress had been in and packed my toiletry bag into it before coming back out. Phil handed me the make-up bag my mother had given me before she left and I put the lipstick back into it before packing it as well. "Here's the cell phone. It's a clone of mine so I will know of any and all calls you make with it. Use it only to call your mother. I mean it Bella, if I see even one strange call, you are in for it, you hear? And not a word of this to her because I will be listening, got that?" Phil shouted at me. Meekly, I nodded, too afraid to disobey. "The school's been informed that you will be going with your mother so they will be sending you your homework for as long as you're gone through the online schooling option which I have transferred you to. Make sure you do not miss one assignment or you will pay dearly, understood?"_

" _Ye-ee- yes," I said my voice trembling. Phil smiled evilly and grabbed my arm and proceeded to pull me out of the room and down the stairs. The men were waiting by the door. The ashy blonde one extended his hand and took me from Phil's hand before leading me out the door, and to the Mercedes. I looked up at the sky._ _ **Twilight, again.**_ _I thought to myself._ _ **It used to be my favorite time of the day when I was little. When mom would be home from work and would take me into her arms and give me a hug, and we'd sit in her chair and she would tell me all sorts of stories from all over the world, just as her mother had done for her. Now though, it only means pain, pain and more pain for me. Would this day of darkness never end…**_

 **~End Flashback~**

It turned out that that was probably the best thing that had happened to me, which Phil was none to pleased about. My mother ended up staying in Napa for 6 ½ months and then Phil decided to take her away on a ' **romantic'** trip for two weeks telling her that I would stay with friends of his while they were gone. In reality, he wanted me away for two more weeks so that he could earn all of the money. Phil was happy since it earned him $105,000 dollars. While I was happy because it was the first time in so long that I was not raped or beaten. The men, who I later learned were named Vladimir and Stephan, took me with them to Romania in Eastern Europe using a fake passport for me. I was taken to this tiny village where there was a castle, though I don't know exactly where it is; I only think it was somewhere in Romania since that's where the plane landed. They kept me in a fairly good-sized room and I was well treated being given good food, pretty clothes to wear, and medical care. The men had bought me from Phil to be a brood mare. I was injected with a whitish liquid, semen, just below my bellybutton in an area that I knew, from my Anatomy class, was where my womb rested. I became pregnant very quickly, much to their elation. In different talks I overheard, I learned that there were other girls like me in the castle, though I never saw any of them, and that most did not become pregnant when they went through the procedure, despite how many times they were treated. This pleased them greatly and so I was even better cared for, and was never once harmed. It seemed like they were conducting some kind of experiment, but I had no idea what it could be. However, in my time there I had become sure that they were not human, leading me to believe that they were perhaps aliens or alien-human hybrids conducting some sort of reproduction experiment. Strange I know, but I just couldn't shake the thought. I kept my promise to Phil and only used his phone to call my mother at 10am and 8pm her time every day and did all of my schoolwork, finishing my sophomore year early since I didn't have anything else to do. Which trilled my mother, and she readily agree with Phil's idea to allow me to take a break from my studies for the remainder of the year and take a technical course to add to my resume for when I entered college. Phil enrolled me in two technical courses; Child Daycare and Practical Nursing; online which took up the remainder of my time in Romania to keep up appearances.

During my time in Romania, the only person beside Vladimir and Stephan that I ever saw was a woman named Zelya Romanshofka. She was, for lack of a better term, my keeper, or maybe nanny would also be a good description. It was her responsibility that I be well cared for. She would bring me my food, whenever I wanted it, no matter how late it was, and would bring me any clothes I wanted or needed as well as anything else I might need. When she learned of my love of reading, she took me to the castle's large library saying only that she thought I would enjoy it, and that few others ever went into that room. I was trilled with the library and spent the majority of my days there devouring any books I could find that I could read when I wasn't working on the brand new state of the art laptop I was given to complete the courses. I could use it to surf the web if I wanted, but none of the messaging pages or emails would open for me as they were blocked to prevent me from contacting anyone, not that I really would have. In the time I had been there, I had basically fallen in love with the treatment I receive there, most likely due to the fact that, although I was made pregnant against my will, I was never harmed and was treated with kindness and respect. Zelya was just like Stephan and Vladimir; she had the same piercing burgundy eyes, the same almost papery look to her skin, though hers was even less pronounced that Stephan and Vladimir's, the same cold, stone-like touch to her skin. She was red-haired about 5'6" with a very slight build to her body and a regular body type, very similar to mine actually, though she had more hips and breasts than I did. She was beautiful, like Vladimir and Stephan, but it seemed like the papery look detracted from it a little, but not much. She became my companion as well as teacher and spent countless hours in the library with me teaching me history, art, science, math, and whatever else she could think of, even languages. She taught me to read, write and speak 4 different languages in my time in Romania; French, Latin, Japanese, and Russian as well as helping me improve on the Spanish I already spoke; using the Rosetta Stone programs as well as her own vast knowledge in them. She thought I had an ear for languages and that that was why I picked them up so quickly, which I had to agree with though I also thought that she had quite a bit to do with it as well.

Zelya also did abnormal things like picking up the couch with me still sitting on it to retrieve a book that had fallen underneath, or the fact that she never ever allowed herself to be seen in sunlight and would have the very thick and heavy drapes in my chambers or the library closed whenever it was sunny out and would only allow me outside when it wasn't sunny and she could accompany me. I never saw her eat or drink anything, and whenever I offered her something she would decline. This along with the other things I had noticed about her and Vladimir and Stephan made me come back again and again to my alien or alien hybrid theory. I was exceedingly curious about them and about what I carried inside me and it almost seemed like she knew and was trying to help me piece together the truth without actually telling me. In fact I was sure that she knew that I knew she and the others were something other and was helping me to piece together what they were. By the time I was 4 months along, looking far more than I should have, I had revised my theory about the aliens. We were in Romania, and I had heard that we were somewhere close to Transylvania, home of Dracula; their skin, their eyes, the cold touch, all of the puzzle pieces fell into place for me and I became convinced that they weren't aliens but something just as astonishing… **VAMPIRES**.

I never came out and said anything about it, but could not shake the feeling that I was right in my assumption, the pieces just fit too well for there to be another answer besides that. When I first came to that conclusion, I was frightened; only natural given that everything that had ever been said about vampires said that they were evil and dangerous to humans. However, the fear lasted only about 5 minutes. I came to the conclusion that, even if that's what they were, they couldn't be all that bad. They had never ever harmed me or even made me feel and ounce of fear towards them. Humans had countless times, and that seemed like all they were capable of doing, but the beings I had been around of had never poised a threat to me. And maybe that's what they wanted me to think, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that I was right and that they truly meant me no harm. I wasn't keen on the idea of other humans being killed since I knew that's what they fed on, but they didn't scare me at all. Zelya was my companion, and my friend; she was kind to me when few others had ever been and Vladimir and Stephan, though they seemed menacing, also treated me kindly, something that I hadn't gotten from men in who knows how long. No matter what they were, I knew in my heart that they never would harm me and I was happy to be with them and dreaded the day I would be returned to Phil since I knew this respite would not last much longer.

My pregnancy was also very strange, adding yet another clue to my puzzle. It was much faster than it should have been; now I had no experience with anything of the sort but I wasn't an idiot, 5 months and 3 days was much shorter than the normal pregnancy, especially considering that I delivered 8 babies which were fully-formed and looked full-term. On June 20th, I delivered 5 baby girls and 3 baby boys, which were born via C-Section, which was performed by Zelya, all of them fully formed and healthy. After the birth, I was given a logbook by Zelya which recorded all of the information on my pregnancy, though certain pages were either thorn out or certain passages were blacked out in such a way that no one could hope to find a clue as to what they said, where it detailed the plans and procedures that had been done, both before and after I became pregnant along with the information on my pregnancy. According to the logbook, to get the samples of semen, which were used on me, they had attacked men on camping trips to fairly remote spots; though these spots were unknown; knocking them unconscious and gathering sperm samples. The names were even listed along with a series of numbers and letters with I had no idea what they meant and there was no way to trace them as crucial information was gone. Three victims, _**Carlisle C. 25-fis, 361borso. Edward C.17-fis, 108borso, and an Eleazar Den. 26-fis, unknown-b**_. The other two samples, it said, were from two of the men that took me Vladimir and Stephan. Edward C.'s samples had been injected into me, Carlisle C's samples into a girl named Relena Covington, Eleazar Den's into a girl named Alania Simmons, Vladimir's into a girl named Samantha Hopkins, and Stephan's into a girl named Elena Masters, which were the other girls that became pregnant along with me. There was no other information on them. I never met any of them and I don't know what happened to them. All I know is that Relena had twins, a boy and a girl whose father was Carlisle C., Samantha had one daughter whose father was Vladimir, Alania had twin boys whose father was Eleazar Den., and Elena had twins, a boy and a girl, whose father was Stephan. I don't know what happened to the other girls or to their children, and I don't even know who the male victims were or what happened to them.

When I first saw my children, I immediately fell in love with them. They were beautiful, absolutely stunning; they were without question the most beautiful babies I'd ever seen, a beauty they could have only inherited from their father, whoever he was, since I was nothing special. My first-born daughter was glorious. My own chocolate orbs were copied perfectly onto her face, which stared curiously and intelligently back at me; she, as well as all of her siblings, was far more aware than a normal newborn, but then I knew they could be no ordinary newborns. Though I didn't know exactly what she or her siblings were, I suspected they were vampire-human hybrids but I wasn't 100% sure. I did, however, know they were something other, I knew they weren't fully human. She didn't look like me, so I figured that she must resemble her father, but I could see some of my features copied into her as well. Amazingly these didn't detract from her beauty but rather added onto it. She had my mouth and my heart shaped face, but other than that she was perfect copy of her father. I figured that she had his nose his chin, his face and his beautiful bronze hair, although she had inherited my untamable wild ringlets passed down through me from Charlie. She was stunning; her beauty could only have come from her father, whom I assume must have been glorious. Most of her features were obviously from the unknown Edward C. as none of my family had ever had features quite so perfect. I decided to give her a name I had come up with myself when I had been playing with the name of my mother and another name I liked which was **Esme** , and I liked it because it meant, beautiful innocence. **Renesmee** **Carlie Swan** is what I named her. My second-born son was so beautiful. Like his sister, he didn't look like at all and I assumed that he looked like a perfect copy of his father, and he had absolutely stunning Emerald green eyes, which I knew to be quite rare. He had my ears, but the rest of his features were unknown to me so I figured that they must have come from his father. His beauty was so stunning that he often left me dazzled and with trouble gathering my thought about me. I decided, though I'm not sure why, to name him Edward, just like the information I had read said was the name of his father, **Edward Masen Swan**. My third-born daughter was glorious, just like her sister. She was an exact copy of me, although she had the same green eyes as her brother. She also had what I thought to be her father's nose, and her hair was a mix of both my mahogany brown and the bronze of hers sister which I believed to have come from her father, the light and dark contrast making her hair almost glitter in the light. I decided to name her after my beloved grandma Marie whose middle name had been Elizabeth and my favorite story growing up had been "Alice in Wonderland", so I named her **Elizabeth Alicia Swan** because of this.

My 4th-born son was an exact copy of me, right down to my mahogany hair, although he had, what I believed to be his father's ears and chin. I decided to name him **Anthony Charley Swan** , after my mother's father who was named Anthony and Charley was for my father only spelled with a 'y' instead of an 'i' to differentiate. My 5th-born daughter, like her sisters, was glorious and seemed to be the perfect happy medium between me and who I presumed to be her father, some features were inherited from me and some were unknown to me so I presumed them to belong to her father. She had the same hair as her elder sister Elizabeth, my mahogany and what I believed to be his bronze hair mixed together. She had my eyes shape, nose, heart-shaped face, my forehead, and eye color. She had, what I believed to be, her father's chin, ears, and cheekbones and untamable wild quality to her hair, which I believed to belong to her father. I decided to name her **Aurora Ariel Swan** because it was a name I'd always liked and had actually been the name of my maternal grandmother; considering how much they had given me, it seemed only right. My 6th-born daughter was as beautiful as her sisters; she looked like a blonde, sapphire blue-eyed version of me. I decided to name her **Melody Rose Swan** after a person I had loved very much, my childhood best friend Melody who basically saved my life when we were 8-years-old, right before she died. She died after being raped and killed by her stepfather. Her mother came home from work in time to find her daughter alive and call for help. At the hospital, she was conscious and identified her stepfather as her killer and told the police that he had told her that his next victim would be me. Melody died in the operating table and the police caught her stepfather right at my door, as he was about to knock. Renée was always very irresponsible, and I'd been home alone that day as I often was since I was six. If Melody had not been able to tell them what happened, I would have died that day, and maybe it would have been better than this, but then I wouldn't have my little angels if that were the case. Later it was discovered that Melody's stepfather was a wanted man in Minnesota, as well as in Washington, Delaware and Chicago where he had raped and killed 4 other girls ages 5, 7 and 8. Melody was his fifth victim and I would have been the sixth had Melody not been able to tell police who had killed her before she died and that he was going after me.

My 7th-born son didn't look like me or what I thought his father looked like since the other boys and girls seemed to resemble the same person. Perhaps he resembled the mysterious Edward's father. He had the same sapphire blue eyes as his sister and the bronze hair and nose I believed to belong to his father, but other that, he resembled someone else entirely. I thought back to the information on the men whose sperm samples were used. I knew that Edward C. was my donor, but perhaps Carlisle C. was his father? A little voice in the back of my head told me that I was right and I really liked the name Carlisle, it wasn't one that was heard every day, and so I chose that as his name, choosing his middle name to be Damien after my grandpa Jasper whose middle name had been Damien, **Carlisle Damien Swan**. My 8th-born daughter looked just like her elder brother Carlisle; except that she had my mahogany brown hair. She was absolutely stunning, just like her sisters. I chose to name her **Angelina Lillian Swan** because Lillian was a name I had always liked and also for Melody whose middle name had been Angelina. They were all absolutely glorious. The babies' skin was pale, paler than me, but not quite as pale as Zelya's, but I was there in the color of their cheeks since none of the people I'd been around had a blush of blood on their faces; it was milk and roses, and in the heartbeats I could feel razing like a humming bird's wings in their tiny chests. This concerned me because their hearts were so much faster than I knew they should be. Also they were extremely warm, much warmer than they should be. I tried to hide my worry about it, but I knew it wouldn't work; Zelya always seemed to know how I was feeling.

Zelya noticed my concern and gave me a hug, placing my head directly over where her heart was. I was sure she'd done this deliberately, a final confirmation of what she was. Not only did she feel like I was hugging a cold stone statue but I could hear no beat of a heart in her chest, and I knew it could be heard because I had heard my mother's before, even Phil's and my father's. "Their hearts run a little bit faster than the average, it's what makes them so warm. But there's noting to be concerned about. We think that since their metabolisms are a little faster than normal it's what causes everything. They'll always be like this, but it's an advantage, a good thing," she explained. After that, she released me and set about teaching me how to care for my newborns. She taught me to breast feed them, change their diapers, dress, bathe, and swaddle them, all the things I needed to know in order to be a good mother. Because there were so many children, it was impossible to nurse all of them so she brought me a breast pump and taught me how to pump my milk in order to give to them in bottles but still told me to try and nurse each one at least once a day so that they could have a special bonding time with me given that they had to be treated like a unit most of the time if there was any hope of caring for all of them. She also taught me how to mix up a special milk formula that was given to them in order to supplement what they got from my milk because I would not be able to produce enough milk for all of them. She told me that in a couple of months we could wean them off of the breast milk but that she thought it was important that they all got to feed from me, and bond with me. Zelya was always there to help me with my babies, and with whatever I needed while I was recovering from my C-Section from which I recovered very fast since the incision was completely closed and there was no scar, seeming as if nothing had ever happened after Zelya rubbed some clear liquid onto it. I was confused but I let the matter drop, not wanting to ask too many questions.

I was able to leave my room, with my babies in toe, two days after they were born and I took them to the library wanting to find a story to read to them. Zelya had brought in a special stroller, which looked just like a toy sports car and seated all 8 of them. It was heavy and I couldn't push it but it was run by remote control, like an RC car. It had two types of controls, an RC remote controller which I was still learning to use given that I had never played with RC toys as a child and a pair of wristbands, which Zelya had told me had a sensor in them that the car was programmed to follow. All I had to do was pass my hand over the reader in the toy to turn it on and have the wristband recognized and the car would follow me. I could use either wristband and kept one in my nightstand in my room while I used the other. Zelya walked with me to the library and we talked about what I would be doing now, I'd finished both technical courses and had the credentials for both. Phil was none too pleased since it meant that now he had to find something else, but I talked to him and convinced him that I was using the remainder of the time to learn languages online and that he could tell my mother I had also entered a program for that. He told my mother this and she was trilled because it meant I would be an even better candidate for college, which placated Phil since it kept my mother from figuring out what was going on.

When we came into the library, I was met with a sight that I'd never seen before. There were 7 children sitting at one of the couches, 2 kids, a boy and girl, looked to be between 5 and 7, and other boy and girl looked to be between 4 and 5 and the last 3, two boys and a girl were toddlers. However, they were sitting on the couch reading the books, which I saw to be classic literature and not picture books. I recognized all of the books and had even read them in my time here; Secret Garden, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Robinson Crusoe, the Iliad, Scarlet Letter, Treasure Island, and The Complete Works of Jane Austen. And I knew they were reading them because they were reading out loud. Amazed, I looked at Zelya, who smiled at me a little sheepishly and took my hand. "I know that you know what we are, I know that you've figured it out, and it's alright. I wanted you to figure it out, and I will tell you now that you are right, we are what you think we are, and you are right that we will not harm you." She pointed at the children. "They are different too. The youngest looking ones are just like your babies. The two oldest ones are what I am. They only look young, but their physical appearance is deceiving, they are actually much older that what they appear to be. The oldest ones will always look as they do now as they have for who knows how long." She took my hand and led me to the couch. "Children," she called to them, "This is Bella," she introduced me.

They looked up from their books and smiled at me, and just like that, I fell in love with them. They were beautiful, absolutely stunning, just like my children. It took very little time for me to adopt them in my heart as my own. They made room on the couch for us to sit while the toy care with my sleeping newborns parked right beside the arm of the couch. Zelya introduced them to me and explained their background. They were all orphans. The oldest, **Cameron** and **Caitlyn** were vampire children, not like mine who were half human. Zelya explained that they were created over 200 years earlier or so when they were 7 years old, though physically they looked to be about 4 or 5, but that they had been allowed to live by the Volturi because; unlike the other Immortal Children who were uncontrollable which is why it was forbidden to create them; they were able to control themselves, and humans didn't appeal to them as food. It was why they had golden eyes, they fed from animals as did all of the other children and Zelya revealed to me that she had also been feeding my babies the blood of animals because they needed it. Cam and Cat had left the Volturi about 10 years ago since they had been told by a psychic that that's how they would find the one meant to be their mother. With them had gone **Achilles** and **Briseis** , twin siblings and children of Caius of the Volturi. Caius had learned of the possibility of creating vampire-human hybrids about 150 years ago, and became curious. He chose a young woman from their city in Volterra and impregnated her. She had birthed 3 children, two sons and a daughter, but the oldest boy Caius II had died when Caius's wife Athenodora, who had been angered by her husband's infidelity after more than 1,000 years, came to kill the girl and her children. Caius didn't care about the girl or even the children he'd fathered, he merely wanted to answer a question, but had come in time to save Achilles and Briseis from certain death. He'd given them to the girl's human family to be raised with the strict warning that death would befall them if they revealed anything that they knew, but the children grew very slowly and the family had ended up dying out and the twins were sent back to Volterra to their father. Athenodora was horrible to the twins, and Aro of the Volturi worried about the effect this might have on them, not wanting them to become like the immortal children of old. He'd also been worried about Cameron and Caitlyn who weren't paid any real attention, and were basically treated like living dolls, and in a sense that was what they were, by the rest of the guard and even the wives; never like children and when their novelty wore off they were set aside by all, even Aro, though he did give them some attention.

When the psychic came she told him that all 4 were destined to have a mother and Aro happily let them go and find her with the strict warning to be careful of other vampires and to not let themselves be seen by humans. They traveled for a while and eventually stumbled across a young woman, a little older than me, when they were in Great Britain. She was human but she was the mother of half human half-vampire children. Her mate had been killed by a coven of vampires whom the children said were named James, Victoria and Laurent. Her mate was named Lestat De Lioncourt, like the character in the vampire chronicles, and her children were named after those characters in the book: life to save theirs: **Lestat Jr**., **Akasha** , and **Tarquin De Lioncourt**. They had run into James' coven and he had decided to hunt Katherine and her children. Lestat Sr. died saving them by getting them to a small plane and letting them go, James tore him apart in revenge and then went on the hunt for them since his game was not over. Katherine had been on the run for months but she was sick; she had terminal cancer and was almost dead when Cameron, Caitlyn, Achilles and Briseis stumbled upon them. Her children were to be left all alone in the world and were too little to care for themselves. The 4 had been told by the psychic that they would find 3 more siblings before they would find their mother, and would get them from a dying human who was mother to them. Katherine asked them to help her children and they agreed. Katherine died about a month later and her children went with their elder siblings to find their new mother. They had traveled for some time and eventually stumbled upon this very castle. Zelya had taken them in, but they knew she was not their mother; they waited for a human girl who would give birth to 8 children for a vampire she had never even seen. Zelya knew their story and knew that I was the mother that they were promised, as did I. I grabbed them all into my arms and held them tightly. I had felt for so long like something was missing from my life and the moment I wrapped my arms around them I knew they were mine. We talked for some time and I decided to give them all their new names. I decided to leave their original names, but give them a middle name and my last name. Lestat's children kept their father's name since I thought that it was only fitting given that he sacrificed his life to save theirs: **Cameron David Swan** , **Caitlyn Ann Marie Swan** , **Achilles Endymion Swan** , **Briseis Ariadna Swan** , **Lestat Amadeo De Lioncourt Swan Jr**., **Akasha Gabrielle De Lioncourt Swan** , **Tarquin Louis De Lioncourt Swan** , which joined my original brood of 8: **Renesmee Carlie Swan** , **Edward Masen Swan** , **Elizabeth Alicia Swan** , **Anthony Charley Swan** , **Aurora Ariel Swan** , **Melody Rose Swan** , **Carlisle Dale Swan** , and **Angelina Lillian Swan** to give me a grand total of 15 children. I had always wanted a large family, but never thought it would be this large, still it was all I could have ever wanted.

Caitlyn and Cameron were almost identical mops of golden blond hair, though Caitlyn's was long and curly, reaching down to her ankles while Cameron's hair only went down to just past his shoulders. Their eyes were gold, and they seemed almost like little porcelain dolls, especially with their pale white skin that looked like backlit alabaster. I knew they would never grow up so they would always be like this. Achilles and Briseis we also blond, but it was such a light blond that it looked almost white and had dark ocean blue eyes, and both of their hairs were as long as Cameron and Caitlyn's and though I knew I should cut them, I couldn't bare to do it, they were too beautiful. Like my eightuplets, they also had milk and roses in their cheeks. Katherine's kids were also very similar to all my babies, proving that they really were hybrids. I learned that Lestat wasn't Katherine's biological son as she was 23 and her son was actually older than both her and me, he's 25 years old. His birth mother had died in child birth due to medical negligence, which had almost cost Lestat his life had his father not saved him by sealing his injury with his own venom. Lestat was, appearance wise, 3 years old. The twins that Katherine had given birth to were 6 years old, Katherine having been 17 when she had them and died at 23, two years younger than her eldest, Akasha and Tarquin were appearance wise about 16 to 18 months old. From this I knew that my babies would be infants for a very long time and started contemplating convincing Zelya to make me a vampire so I could be with them forever but there was much to be considered on that front. Lestat had curly blonde hair that reached to his waist, and sapphire blue eyes that were iridescent with pale skin like backlit alabaster, high cheekbones and a Grecian nose. He actually looked a lot like the description of the Lestat in the Vampire Chronicles, and they showed me a picture of their father and they looked almost identical, only their eyes were shaped differently. Akasha and Tarquin were both exotic looking, just like their birth mom who had been in the picture with Lestat Sr., they had dark honey blond hair, violet eyes, but their features were clearly reminiscent of their father.

Katherine had had books of vampire knowledge passed down to her from her mate, who in turn got them from his family. The children had gone of to search for them after Katherine had died It took months but they finally found all the cashes of books of what they told me they had begun to call _**'the Coven of the Enlightened'**_ , though they couldn't study them, lacking the knowledge needed to work with them. Perhaps I could learn to work with them and unearth the secrets that they contained; I always did so love a mystery. They gave them to me and I kept the books in my chambers in large trunks; ready for the day I would leave this castle and return to Arizona, since they would be going with me along with my children. Zelya and I had spoken about that; she would leave with me and move in nearby with the children to keep them hidden from my family and wherever I went they would follow. Over the next few days, the kids told me all the stories of their travels. They told me that finding the books had not been easy. Katherine had given them the clues she had been given by her mate, but they were in codes and it took a while to decipher the clues, translate them to modern terms and follow the map they painted to where the cashes were. Seven cashes in total with the 8th having been in Katherine's hands which she found in the ruins of the temple of Zeus in Greece along with her mate and handed to the children upon her death. It contained 150 tomes. One cash containing 200 volumes had been hidden in a little valley where the mouth of the Blue Nile was. Ironically, I had seen something very similar in a movie. Another cash, containing 50 very thick tomes, had been hidden in the deep forests of Scotland in a little cave that had strange drawings with Cameron identified as looking like they were druidic. Yet another had been hidden in the southern U.S. deep in cave in Death Valley, and this one had 15 volumes two of which needed to be restored before even attempting to decipher them.

The fourth cash, which contained 50 tomes, was found in a Mayan Pyramid, which I was sure had not been discovered yet. The fifth and largest cash was found Italy at the foot of Mount Vesuvius in a yet undiscovered and unexplored portion of Pompeii. It contained 550 tomes of various sizes and I was glad that one had survived the fall of Pompeii since I would have bet good money that it would have been lost. They'd been lucky enough that there was a minor earthquake in the area, which uncovered the site so they could find the books, otherwise it probably would have been lost. Unlike all the others were, that cash was written in Latin and was easier to decipher since I now knew the language as did Cameron and Caitlyn. The papers were calling it a freak act of nature, which uncovered a previously unknown portion of the city and the scientific world was in an uproar for it. Zelya had sent the location of the Mayan Pyramid to an archeologist just to see what would come of it. And once again the scientists were in an uproar, it would be fun to watch what came off of their little discoveries. The sixth cash, which had 10 thick tomes to it, had been found in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in previously unknown ruins hidden in an almost impenetrable valley. Now I don't know why I think this but I think it may be the very place where Babylon had once been. Wouldn't it be hilarious if a bunch of babies discovered Babylon? The last cash, which continued 125 tomes, was the furthest to be found. I found it in Japan, in the ruins of a temple in the island of Hokkaido. The kids took pictures of it all of their adventures which I loved so much, especially the paintings in the temple; they seemed to be very intricate, and yet so simple.

All in all, there were 1,150 tomes in my possession. I think that they might date as far back as Sumerian times and as recently as 200 years after the time of the plague of the Immortal children, which Zelya had told me about. So much knowledge almost lost forever in time. Zelya told me that it would be wise to keep the knowledge of the existence of these books between as few people as possible, and I had to agree, after all knowledge was power, and in the wrong hands that power could be devastating. No one besides me, the children and her knew of the existence of these books and I thought it would be best to keep it that way. Zelya was sure that most would be useless to anyone, even vampires, but I wasn't so sure, after all those books were hidden, and even written for a reason. I went along with her thinking since I knew she had no interest in them and knew that if I discovered something from it, it would be best to keep it between me and the children. Still, she knew they were precious to me because the babies found them in their adventures and took it as my wanting to keep and decipher the things they found. The books were written in many different languages, most of which are now dead languages, and in many different hands and even styles of writing, like Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sumerian writing, druidic runes, Japanese or Chinese characters, Mayan hieroglyphics, and Greek and Latin writing. The differences made me think that they were written by vampires from across the globe that formed the coven of the Enlightened. If I was right then this was the largest coven in the world, and it also made me think that there was a possibility that at least some of these vampires were still in existence or had left progeny with their unique knowledge. I had told Cameron about my theory and he said that it was very possible, that it made sense given the very large differences that we found and the wide division of hiding places of the books. I was now the custodian of the knowledge of these vampires and was working on deciphering the books so we could learn all that they had to teach. I got a hold, with Zelya's help, of a program for translating the books so I started to work on it. It's an uphill battle given the obscurity of the languages, the need for careful restoration of the material before even attempting to decipher anything and my own lack of knowledge on the subjects. Zelya had begun teaching me languages, most of today but some from ancient times but my knowledge was still very basic on these. I have been contemplating going to college to study these languages and learn how to decipher the books. I made for an interesting pass time.

As much as I didn't want to, the time to return to Phil and Renée came. However, I was not returned home by Stephan and Vladimir. A month and a half after my babies were born Zelya came into my room in the middle of the night, behind her walked in my other babies who'd been asleep in the room next to mine. She told me that we had to leave. I was confused; I still had a little less than half a month before I had to return to Arizona. She said she would explain later and picked me up from my bed and quickly changed my clothes. She then proceeded to flit about the room at vampire speed, gathering everything that would be going with us and packing my babies into their toy car. Once she had everything gathered, she took everything downstairs and returned for us a few seconds later. I had gotten the bigger children into their toy car placing the controllers for both on my wrists. She picked me up and swung me on her back and then raced us out of there with the toy cars following behind. She led us to a large SUV that had a U-Hal trailer, which I was surprised to see in Europe, attached to it and placed me in the passenger seat. She unloaded the children and packed them into the car, placing their toy cars in the trailer and then got in the driver's seat and took of down the long narrow road as fast as the SUV could go. We raced through winding roads for hours before the sun came up and I finally saw why she never showed herself in the sun. She and the children glittered like diamonds. Zelya noticed my awe and smiled ruefully. "The myths aren't true but they all have a kernel of truth to them. Your babies are special in that they glitter just like we do. None of the other kinds of hybrids do, or so it says in the books about them that Katherine possessed." I smiled at her and nodded in understanding, this would be something that would have to be kept a secret, perhaps we should move to Forks with my father, the sun only shows itself there a couple of times a year. After a few minutes, I couldn't take the curiosity any more.

"What happened back there, Zelya? Why did we rush off like that?" I asked her.

She sighed. "The Volturi." I looked at her confused. "The Volturi found the castle. They know about the experiment that Stephan and Vladimir were running and when they found us, they came to stop it. They know about the attacks that happened to males around the world to gather the sperm samples, which were used in the experiment, the males probably informed them. We knew that the Volturi would eventually find us and last night the scouts saw a contingent of them coming our way. I knew what they would do to you and the children; they may let them live, but you will most likely be killed. Stephan and Vladimir ran, they left us behind, but told me to run as well. I couldn't leave you behind so I gathered you all up and we ran. We're headed for the airport and will be returning to your home. I know you don't want to go back, but we need to keep up appearances, given everything that the Volturi will inevitably find back at the castle as I didn't have much time to get rid of it and get us all out of there. It's for the best if you're returned so we don't cause too much suspicion. I didn't have time to take much with me apart from you guys, but I did take the little information on you so they won't be able to track you."

"What about the others? I know there were other mothers."

"There were, but they died in childbirth. You're the only one that survived. I don't know what Stephan and Vladimir did with their babies though. The only ones I was aware of in the castle were you and the little ones. I know there were other females taking care of them in other parts of the castle complex, which was really comprised of several castles. I never left ours, and never saw them. I can only think that they may still be there." She shook her head sadly. "I would have gone to find them, if there had been time, but the Volturi were almost on top of us when we ran. There just wasn't time." She lowered her head and I placed my hand on her shoulder to comfort her. We continued to race away and to the airport. She got us on a private plane and we headed back to my home in Arizona. She found a house near mine to live in with the babies while I stayed in my house; my family could never know of their existence, especially Phil, I shudder to think about what would happen if he knew. I saw them daily and spent as much time as I could there. But there was little Zelya could do to help me with what Phil did to me. She couldn't interfere for fear of the Volturi tracking her down.

I decided to move to Forks when I turned 16, right after Phil raped me, threw me down the stairs, beat me, threatened to slit my mother's throat in front of me, and raped me again while I was laying in a pool of blood. All because I locked my bedroom door one night. Zelya and the babies came with me and she found a house in between Forks and Port Angeles for herself and the children. Things were great at first when I moved there. Charlie was strict and expected me to cook and clean the house for him, which I did gladly, finding it far better than what I went through with Phil. Zelya encouraged me to speak to my father and tell him what had happened to me so Phil could be put away and not harm anyone else, and I was trying to work up the courage to admit my dark secrets to my father. A little after we moved, Zelya told me that she'd decided to change me a bit before my 18th birthday so that I would be able to stay with my children. She wanted to give me the time to mentally prepare myself for the change, knowing from experience that it would help make the newborn transition a bit easier. She planned to remain with us until I was stable but thought it best to not remain with us as a coven because she was sure the Volturi were probably looking for her and us and thought it best for us to split up to stay safe. I was still working on finding the courage to reveal what had happened to me, but I was almost about to. That very day that Charlie beat me for the first time, I was going to tell him, but decided against it, afraid of what he'd do to me. I didn't know at the time that Charlie was also a fan of beating and raping me. Charlie just finished raping me for the first time. That's why I was sitting in my bathroom with a knife in my hand. I had nowhere I could go. Everywhere I went I got beat and raped. I couldn't even turn to Zelya for help; there was nothing she could do for me. I would rather go to hell than go on living here. With that thought I step into the tub full of water, and cut from my wrists to the inside of my elbow. I just watched the water grow red as my world went dark…

 _ **Three days later, I was looking into the golden eyes of Carlisle Cullen…**_


	3. Chapter 2: Turning the Page

**Chapter 2: Turning the Page**

 **Carlisle POV**

We were moving once again, this time to the town of Forks, Washington. It was nice to finally be able to return to the Olympic Peninsula after over 70 years away, it was the perfect home for us with good hunting, sparse population, and most of all, plenty of cloud cover that enabled us to be out and about in daylight without fear of discovery. We had lived nearby in Olympia, 70 years ago and it was there that we found the werewolves in the area. It would have turned into a fight, and though we outnumbered them, I did not want to risk harm to my wife and children. I spoke to their leader in the hope of showing them that we were different from the others of our kind. They seemed to believe me and we made the treaty. They would keep our secrets and not expose us for what we were, and we in turn were forbidden from creating another vampire, and could not set foot on their land. I would have liked to earn their trust, but I knew well that was not to be and accepted. We've abided by the treaty ever since. Alice and Jasper joined us after we moved from that area and to the East coast. Once they came my wife and I felt like our family was almost complete; there was only one hole in it… our son Edward had no mate. I knew how hard it was for him to live in a house full of perfectly matched pairs, I'd tried once to give him the same happiness which I'd found in his mother, my wife Esme, but it was not to be. Rosalie was destined for my other son Emmett, whom she found 2 years after I made her. I knew Edward was happy in the company of his siblings, but I knew his heart like my own and I knew it cried out for it's other half. I could only hope he'd find her soon, he deserved to be happy.

I broke out of my thoughts as I we arrived at the home of our cousins in Denali, Alaska. We'd been living nearby in Juno and were coming to visit them one last time before heading to Forks. We'd be spending a week here, and Edward and I were going hunting tomorrow with Eleazar while Emmett and Jasper went to a monster truck rally and the women and our cousins had a beauty day in Anchorage. It was a chance for me and Edward to bond again. Over the years, Edward and I had fallen a little a part; we were still close, but it wasn't the same as when it was just my son and me. Rosalie, Emmett, Alice and Jasper had taken quite a bit of my attention away from Edward. As did Esme in her own way. It wasn't their fault and I had always made certain that Edward would always know how much I loved my little boy, but it wasn't the same. Eleazar was coming to get away from the women, but it was strictly a father-son 3-day outing for me and my boy.

 **Edward POV**

Well, once again we were moving. But first we had to visit our cousins in Denali. I was not looking forward to any of this. Moving got monotonous after doing it God only knows how many times, but I didn't mind this, it was part of who we were as a family. What I wasn't looking forward to at all was our trip to Denali. Don't get me wrong, I liked going to visit our extended family. It was just one family member whom I wished would disappear. Tanya had been after me for almost 100 years, that woman just didn't like the meaning of no. I first met her when Carlisle brought me here a few months after he created me. I like it, being around others of my kind and being able to hang out with people other than my father since I was too young yet to go around humans. It was a few days into our visit when I first met Tanya. I was in their library playing on their piano, it had been my passion since I was human and I loved playing it now, much to my father's pleasure. Carlisle had gone out for a quick hunt and there was no one else in the house. I lost myself in my music and so, despite my newly-discovered ability to read minds, I did not notice her until she was right behind me. She startled me, actually. I turned to look at her, like a good little boy and introduce myself like the proper gentleman my human mother had raised me to be. But I did not like the look in her eyes. It was as if I was a particularly tasty human and she was starving. Still I kept my composure and introduced myself though she made me uncomfortable. From that point on, Tanya made it her personal mission to get me in bed with her. I made it clear that I was not interested, but she refused to take no for an answer and tried to convince me to take her as my mate. If I'm being honest, she did nothing for me, no one did. Oh she was beautiful alright, she had strawberry blond curls and dark gold eyes with a generous swell of breast and butt and was as flawless as the rest of us, but she did nothing for me. In fact she made me wish I could vomit every time I was around her and she showed me in her thoughts what she wanted us to do. Though she'd tried to convince me of her love, I knew well she just didn't like to take no for an answer and just thought I was playing hard to get. Delusional, if you asked me, but that's just how it was. She could be a good friend, but she ruined it as soon as she started to make her play for me. No one had ever interested me before, not even when I was human, and she was no exception. We vampires have soul mates and I just hadn't found mine. And maybe I never would.

When we arrived, Tanya was outside waiting for us with the others. She and her sisters, Irina and Kate, were the originals behind the succubus myths, they liked having sex with human men before feeding on them, but it was through this that they found their conscience, as we call it, over time the men they loved lived to tell the tale. Tanya liked to think about her conquests more so than her sisters, particularly when I was around in hopes of enticing me. I had discussed it with my brothers once when they asked me why I kept turning her down, thinking that I could use a one-night stand to loosen me up. I explained to them, that she just didn't do anything for me, that I wasn't the least bit attracted to her. I reminded them of their wives, my sisters, and asked them if, after knowing their other halves, could they even consider being with someone else. Both shook their heads no, it wouldn't be worth it. I told them that I knew what that felt like, by watching them and our parents together, and after seeing all of that, there was no way I could settle for less. My brothers knew I was right in that. Emmett even made a comment saying: _**Who wants a worthless whore, when they can have an angel?**_ It was mean, but it was true. Tanya was nothing but a whore, there was no real substance to her at all; it was like all she was meant to be was a prostitute and I did not want that. She could be a good friend if only she would leave me alone. Though no one knew, I had suffered many a secret visit from her, most of the time wearing next to nothing, but I would not give in, I did not want her. Sex to me was something that should be done in love and I wasn't even remotely interested in her. I knew that throughout this visit she would continue to try just as she always had, and I wasn't disappointed. She tried all she could think about to entice me into her bed. I just shook my head and went on my way.

The next day, Carlisle, Eleazar and I went out to hunt while the rest of the family went to Anchorage; Alice, Esme, Rosalie and our female cousins Tanya, Kate, Irina and Carmen to shop and my brothers went to a monster truck rally. I'd never liked those so I went with Carlisle and Eleazar, the only male on that coven and mated to Carmen, to hunt. I was actually looking forward to that, since I knew that Carlisle planned it to be a father-son outing. I knew he felt guilty about how I had been seemingly pushed aside as the others started joining our family, particularly as they were all paired up but I was alone. We were always close, but it wasn't the same as when it was just him and me, father and son against the world. I missed that, just as much as he did; you could say I was a bit of a daddy's boy but it had been just him and me for such a long time that it was to be expected. Esme and I also had a very especial and close bond; I was the son that replaced the baby boy she'd lost as a human and what had prompted her to take her life, and she was the mother I had needed after the loss of my own, I was also a bit of a Mommy's boy, which was probably why I had such a hard time when Rosalie first joined us. I'd felt as if our family had been complete with just the three of us and I didn't think we needed anyone else. Just like most other older children when their parents had a new child; I was jealous, but it didn't last long and I really did like having a sister, later getting another one and two brothers as well to hang out with. Still, my relationship with Carlisle had always been different; it was to him, after all that I ran to when Tanya had been bothering me in the beginning. I hadn't done it in years, but Carlisle always knew how much she bothered me. He even suspected that I'd received visits from her which no one else knew about and how much they perturbed me. I never told him, but he knew, he was my dad after all. And I was trilled that today we'd have time to be by ourselves, father and son once more like before. Eleazar was coming with us and would be nearby, but he wasn't really a part of our outing. We were going to be away for three days, looking for the big predators to feed on.

I was exited since I hadn't eaten in a while and Denali offered a change from our normal diet of venison and a few predators, and so was Carlisle, but what we looked forward to the most was spending time together as father and son. We said our goodbyes to our family and left. The first day was uneventful, we caught a few predators and Carlisle and I even had fun in a tussle like when I was young and I would tackle him in play. The second day dawned uneventfully as well but I had this strange feeling that something wasn't right which only kept increasing as the day wore on. Towards the middle of the second day, Carlisle and I had taken a break from hunting and had met up with Eleazar. I was jumpy, I just had this strange feeling that something wasn't right, but I couldn't pinpoint it. We were relaxing in a clearing when all of the sudden we were attacked. They came out of nowhere and I never even heard them coming. One minute we were just relaxing and chatting and the next they were on top of us. I knew who it was that was attacking us. Romanians were another ancient coven of vampires and Vladimir and Stephan were the leaders. They're about as old as the Volturi, and had been rulers to our kind about 2,000 years ago before the Volturi overthrew them. There weren't very many of them left, in fact the only ones I knew of were Vladimir and Stephan themselves though there were rumors that they have begun to recruit followers; for what, well, most likely to overthrow the Volturi and seek revenge on them for destroying their empire centuries ago. Though they probably never would because the Volturi's army is composed of vampires that have formidable gifts, like me and Alice and Jasper. In fact I have had offers to join them, though I never would. Any way, as we went to get up, meaning to move on to another clearing and maybe hunt some more, we were ambushed. I hadn't heard them coming, so they took us completely by surprise, obviously they knew what I could do and had been controlling their thoughts so I wouldn't hear them. I was the clear threat because of my mind reading so I was taken out first and knocked unconscious; not a very easy thing to do to a vampire, but I know what happened afterwards from Eleazar and Carlisle's memories.

Carlisle saw that I had been taken out as he was fighting and, like any father, tried to get to me to help me, forgetting about himself, fearing that I was already dead or seriously hurt, after all it is hard to knock a vampire unconscious. He fought his way to me and tried to free me from my captors, who had begun to drag me away, but he couldn't, there were too many for him, and was knocked out and taken too. Eleazar lasted the longest, having much more experience as a fighter since he had been a Volturi soldier before he found his mate, but he too was overpowered, knocked out and taken. I awoke some time later, though I was powerless to do anything to help my family or myself. We were locked in chains and held down. Our arms ripped off so we couldn't attack, a state that we can survive easily and our arms can be reattached. Carlisle and Eleazar were still unconscious. I tried to fight but couldn't. It was hard for me to see what happened next. I wished I could forget. I watched as they opened our pants, and extracted our venom seed, what replaced our semen. It was painful as they were forcing long thin tubes through the urethra and other tubes to our testicles, the one place where we, like any other males, were vulnerable. A lot was taken from all of us and then I felt another blow to my head and knew no more. Some time, later I awoke to Carlisle shaking me by the torso. I had been knocked out again, though how I still don't know. Carlisle had awoken after I was knocked out and watched the rest, wile trying to free himself and to come to my aid. After they had taken all the samples they could from us, they left us, but Carlisle recognized Vladimir amongst them so he knew who had attacked us just as I did. Carlisle managed to free himself and recover his arms. He ran to me and shook me awake, terrified that I had been killed. When I awoke he reattached my arms and helped me close my pants as it took a while for me to recover feeling in them then we helped Eleazar. We ran home and our family was waiting since they were coming back before we were. We told them what happened and contacted the Volturi. This had been an attack on some of their friends not to mention the odd nature of it so they had to be involved. It was then that we learned that this wasn't the first time; other males from around the world had experienced the same thing as we did even three of their male guards, Alec, Demetri and Felix had been attacked in this manner while on vacation away from Volterra, and the Volturi were looking into it. After the attack we decided to go on to Forks. It would take almost a year before we would learn what in the hell was going on…

 **Carlisle POV**

After the attack in Denali, we decide to move on to Forks. I spoke with Aro who told me what had happened to others, and that the Romanians were behind it. I was confused and sick, what were they up to? It was clear from his voice that my old friend felt the same way. We kept a watchful eye out in case of another attack. No one went hunting alone or in pairs any more; we usually went out as a full group, safety in numbers. Alice had not seen the attack and we didn't know what to make of that so we thought it best to always stay close to each other for safety. I would never forget the fear I had felt that day, not so much for myself but for my son, my baby. Seeing him being knocked unconscious and hearing the tearing sound as his arms and legs were ripped of was a memory that was forever burned into my memory. He was my baby, no matter how old he was, and I was his father, I was supposed to protect him, but I'd failed. I didn't think I would ever get over the guilt of that. I started working at Forks General Hospital, a tiny hole-in-the-wall hospital serving the town that was badly staffed and badly in need of pretty much everything. I did my best to help it turn around, but the staffing shortage was hard to surmount. Many times I called on Edward, who had gotten two medical degrees in his lifetime, much to my pleasure, pride and joy, to help me out at the hospital with different crisis. He was never seen and he didn't deal with anything relating to human blood since he wasn't strong enough to resist it completely like I was yet, but we would work together to help patients, like father and son, something I very much enjoyed and knew that he did to. By day the children would attend Forks High as they were playing the role of high school students, since the younger we start out in an area, the longer we can stay there. Esme worked on different architectural projects from home while I worked at the hospital. Rose also worked on designing cars for BMW from a far, under an assumed name while Edward did the same for Ferrari. We were just one happy family, despite not knowing what it was that happened a few months earlier.

We got the answer to that question almost a year after the attacks. I was working the late shift at the hospital, but there was nothing to do so I was just reading in my office, when a nurse came in the door. "Dr. Cullen?" she asked.

I looked up at her; she was the receptionist as the front desk; since we were so understaffed we all often served multiple functions at the hospital. "Yes, Tina?" I ignored the worshipful look she gave me; it was a common thing, what with being a vampire and all.

"There's a man here who wishes to talk to you. He said his name was Aro Volturi and that you would know what it was about."

I felt my eyebrows rise to my hairline; Aro had come to see me in person? "Send him in," I told her. I stood up and greeted my friend after centuries of not seeing him. "Aro, my old friend, it is so good to see you once again."

Aro smiled, "And you as well Carlisle. However, time is of the essence in this case and I am afraid we do not have time to catch up." I was surprised by his words, and even more by his countenance, Aro almost seemed as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. I gestured for him to take a seat.

"Whatever brings you all the way out here from Italy, must be terribly important my friend. Please sit and tell me what's going on."

"Not here, my friend. It would be best to do it somewhere more private as this is a very delicate matter. And there are others who need to hear what I have to say," Aro told me. I frowned; my gut was telling me that this had to do with the attack a few months ago. "I will tell you now that it's about what happened to you and your son months ago, my friend," Aro continued, confirming my gut instinct, and I knew then that what he had to say would not be pretty.

I nodded in understanding and press the intercom button on my desk, "Tina?"

" _ **Yes, Dr. Cullen?"**_ she answered almost immediately.

"Something has been brought to my attention and I need to take care of it right away. I'll be going home early. If I'm needed, contact me on my cell phone or contact Dr. Gerandy."

" _ **Yes, Dr. Cullen."**_

With that said I stood up from my desk and gesture for Aro to follow me. "How about we move this conversation to my home, old friend? My family will be there and I believe that they are the ones you think need to hear this too."

Aro nodded, "That sounds lovely. However the Denali coven needs to hear this as well," he told me as he followed me out the door.

I nodded, "We can conference call them using Skype." Aro nodded and the two of us got in my car to head on home.

I had not wanted to bring Aro to the house; I had not wanted him to meet my children, but especially Edward, Alice and Jasper. Aro knew of Edward and his ability and had wanted badly for Edward to join his guard, but he would not. Jasper and Alice also had gifts, which Aro was not aware of and I hoped to keep it that way. I called Esme and told her about our visitor when I knew I was close enough that Edward would pick up my thoughts as well sending him a clear message to warn his sibling to be careful of revealing their gifts. They knew the kind of threat this could pose and they would be careful. I asked Esme to contact the Denalis and use Skype so we could all be at the meeting. Esme agreed and I heard her tell Emmett to set it up before we hung up. Aro and I drove the rest of the way in silence. When we arrived at the house, everything what set up and our cousins were waiting expectantly on the T.V. waiting to hear what had brought Aro so far away from home. After everyone exchanged greetings and I reluctantly introduced Aro to my family, we sat down on the living room furniture to begin. "I know everyone is probably curious as to why I have come so suddenly to visit. This isn't a social call, as much as I would wish it to be. You all remember what happened a few months ago, and know that we have been investigating it for some time," Aro paused for a moment. "We've since discovered what it is that's happening and I've come to discuss it with you. I thought that this deserved a face to face meeting given the gravity of what we discovered."

"What is it Aro?" I asked.

"We found the Romanian stronghold about 3 months ago. It took us this long just to sort the mess that they had made. Vladimir and Stephan escaped, but we captured some of their cohorts and learned what it is that they had been doing." I watched something I never thought I would see; Aro was disgusted, shocked and flabbergasted. "And they say I'm sick. Apparently they discovered that it was a possibility for us male vampires, or at least some of us, to reproduce, as long as the mother was human." I looked at my daughter Rosalie and saw the pain flash across her face at this statement before it was replaced by the calm mask she'd perfected over the years, all Rose had wanted was to have child. "Females remain unable to have children, but they found that some males could. We've known of this for 150 year, Caius became curious after meeting a vampire who swore it was a possibility and decided to try it out. I do not condone what my brother did, but he impregnated a human girl and had triplets, though one was killed along with their mother when Athenodora sought her revenge for his infidelity. We gave the remaining two babies to the mother's human family to be raised as Caius did not really want them; he was only curious and had no wish to be a father; and Athenodora posed a threat to them since they are the remainder of Caius's infidelity. The family has died out and the children returned to us 12 years ago but left us about 10 years ago to find the mother that a psychic promised them they would have along with the only two Immortal Children we've ever allowed to remain alive because they have the same self-control as any adult vampire. I won't get into their story as that's not important at the moment. What is important is what the Romanians were doing." Aro paused for a few moments.

"What were they doing, Aro?" I heard Edward ask. If he was asking it meant Aro was doing a really good job of hiding his thoughts.

Aro sighed, "They were experimenting to see if it was true. The first part was getting the samples from different males from all across the globe. You know what happened after that. From what we understand, there were a total of 35 males attacked, though of these only 30 samples were viable. Next they gathered girls from all over the globe to try to impregnate them. Some were runaways, some came willingly to them, some they bought, and some they kidnapped. 95 girls total. Of all of them, only 20 girls became pregnant with the vampire seed, and of these only 5 delivered healthy babies; most infants died at birth or shortly there after along with all the mothers. From the information we have gathered, only one girl is know to have survived the birth. It was a bit of trial and error experiment and they didn't take very good care of most of the girls, but that one that lived received the best care as a part of their theory. Well cared for mothers lived, uncared for mothers die, well cared for infants live, uncared for ones died. It was all apart of what they were doing. Sick I know." Aro shook his head. "We recovered the bodies of the dead infants as well since they were also being experimented on. But none of that's really important." Aro then looked me in the eye, "I came to see you personally Carlisle, as well as your son, for a reason. If Eleazar were nearby I would have talked to him personally but you provided the next best thing," he said looking at the three of us. "Three of those 5 girls that delivered healthy babies were impregnated with your samples, Carlisle, Edward and Eleazar. The other two were impregnated with the samples of Vladimir and Stephan. I know this because I can smell it. You know as well as I do Carlisle, that our noses are better than DNA tests. We can tell at a whiff who is the family of anyone. I know your scents as well as Vladimir and Stephan's and know for certain you are the children's fathers."

I felt like my world had just been turned up side down. I found myself sitting on the floor having fallen off of my chair in shock. Edward looked like he couldn't believe his ears and Eleazar looked like he was going to throw up if he could. I dared not look at my wife, afraid of her reaction. After a few minutes, I heard Esme ask, "Where are they?" I looked up at her, but could not tell what she was thinking. I felt her lift me up off the floor and then saw her take our son into her arms tucking him against her shoulder. It had been years since Edward had needed this from his mother or allowed it, not since he returned to us after his rebellious time with the weight of so many lives, which he'd taken, on his shoulders, had he allowed his mother to hold him like that. He looked to me, in that moment, like a frightened little boy who needed his Mommy and Daddy. I looked into his eyes and he stared right back at me, and I saw the fear and the hope in his eyes as well as many other emotions I could not decipher. He looked so fragile in that moment and I felt this overwhelming need to protect him, and knew Esme felt the same which was why she held her baby boy to her tightly.

Aro shook his head. "We have most of them, but not all of them. The largest group of babies, the eightuplets, disappeared along with their mother, who was the only girl to survive the births, about two hours before we reached the stronghold. We know their scents from the items that were left behind, but they were gone by the time we got there. From the security tapes of the castle we saw a female vampire, most likely the one taking care of the girl, take them away and we do not know where they went. We lost the track because of the rain and Demetri cannot find them. We did, however, recover the other living children. The Romanians encoded the names of the mothers so we do not really know who they are, we can't even be sure if the initials are even representative of their names. I.M. Swan is the one remaining mother, or at least she was alive when she left the castle, we don't know what happened to her or the babies after that." He looked at the screen, and I looked over as well to see Carmen holding Eleazar in much the same way as Esme held our son while Kate rubbed his back and Irina had placed her hand on Carmen's shoulder in comfort. "Eleazar your sample was used on an A.A. Simmons. She birthed twin boys, which I have sent over to your home with Renata. I thought it best that you decided what to do with them since they belong to you. The girl died from blood loss as she was torn apart by giving birth to her marble hard children naturally. Vladimir fathered one daughter, whose mother died of heart failure during delivery. Stephan fathered twins, a boy and a girl whose mother died as they tore their way out of her stomach because of a detached placenta. In the panic because they couldn't breathe they must have used their teeth to escape the womb, killing their mother in the process." He then looked at me, there were only two sets of babies left and one was missing, I hoped to God that mine were the ones that were missing, I wanted to spare my son that heartache knowing there was no way to find them. I could take knowing that they were missing, but I didn't want him to suffer that pain. I knew him and I knew he wanted them, I just hoped he would get good news. "R.M. Covington gave birth to a little boy and a little girl, and Carlisle, they belong to you."

My heart sank; it was Edward's babies who were missing. I heard the whimper that escaped from my son's lips as he realized this fact. Esme held him tighter to her and I reached out and ran my fingers up and down his back as he tucked his face into his mother's neck. Aro looked sad as he continued, "I – I'm sorry. But…" he trailed off, but Aro did not need to continue. We knew. Edward was a father, and his kids were missing. "We have some information on the babies though, perhaps it can help. Your children were born on June 20th," Edward cried into his mother's neck at this news, they had been his birthday presents, but he probably would never know them. "We have clothes with their scents as well as some pictures that were taken. Perhaps they could be of help, I don't know. We do not have the mother's scent as her room was wiped clean of it and the only information we have on her is a bank account number for a man named Phil Dawson who we believe is the one that sold her to the Romanians. The girl is actually American and was brought to Romania with a fake passport. She spent 6 ½ months with them." Aro handed me the briefcase he had been carrying. "It contains all the information that we were able to gather." I nodded and took the briefcase to look at later, we would find them somehow. Alice stood up from her chair and took Edward out of Esme's arms and outside. I knew what she was doing, she was trying to spare her brother from having to see the other children, which I was sure were here with Aro, while he would not get to see his own.

Once Edward was gone Esme repeated her question, "Where are the babies?"

"I brought most of them with me. Including Vladimir and Stephan's…"Aro trailed off not sure how to word what he had to say.

"We'll take them," I hear my Esme, Rosalie, Carmen and Kate say. I looked at all of them confuse and saw Eleazar and Emmett looking the same way.

Rose spoke up, "We figured that you brought them here to find out what to do with them. So we'll take them."

"I'll take the ones that belong to Carlisle," Esme continued. "I've always wanted a baby of my own with him, and this is close enough, so I'll take them. They need a mother." I looked at my wife amazed, I knew how loving she was but she still amazed me. I knew it must not be easy for her to know that I had children with someone else, regardless of how it came about, but she still managed to see beyond that and see babies who needed a family. Rose's answer didn't surprise me. I knew she wanted a baby and this would be her chance to get one. Kate was in the same boat as Rose, and Carmen was a lot like Esme. I smiled at my wife happily; we would have a baby together.

"I'll take the ones that belong to Eleazar," Carmen seconded. Kate and Rose voiced their wishes to adopt the other three babies. Rose wanted the boy and girl belonging to Stephan and Kate would take the little girl belonging to Vladimir. Aro smiled and pulled out his phone to call his guards in to bring the children to their parents, likely relieved that things were resolved. I knew he just didn't want to return to Volterra with them. In no way shape or form was he fit to be a parent and he knew it. The other little girl was sent to Denali to her new mother. I watched as Chelsea came to the door with Demetri, bringing with them the 4 babies who belonged to us. Rose's twins were both dark-haired and had the violet eyes she used to have, their features were very similar to Emmett, and if I didn't know better, I would have thought that they were their biological parents. They had the same dark hair as him, the same dimples, and the boy had the same mischievous look to him that was always on Emmett's face. Poor Emmett didn't know what to do; he just sat there with his eyes bugging out of his head while Rose took the two babies into her arms. Or at least he sat there until his wife literally kicked him out the door to go to the pharmacy in Port Angeles and pick up some baby supplies. Esme took our babies into her arms and I saw that they had my old sapphire blue eyes, but their features were very reminiscent of my Esme; they had the same caramel hair as her the same nose, thought they had my ears and chin. They were so pretty, I couldn't help but stare. In one night I had become a father and a grandfather. Esme gave me a look that clearly told me to go with Emmett, or else. I walked the Volturi out the door after seeing that Eleazar's sons had been given to Carmen and he was also kicked, quite literally, out the door by his female family members to go to the store while they were busy ogling their new additions just as we were.

Eleazar looked at me across the screen with an almost pleading look on his face, I smiled at him, "Welcome to fatherhood. It only gets worse from here," I told him. He knew what I meant with that sentence. This is how it would go for the rest of eternity. After seeing the Volturi off, Emmett and I went to the store.

"Carlisle do you have any idea what they expect us to get?" Emmett asked me as we drove down the highway. My eyes opened wide. No I had no idea. Emmett saw the look on my face and started laughing, though he knew no better than I did.

"We'll call your mother when we get there," I told him

"Good thinking."

We decided to keep the babies a secret since it was clear, from the information the Volturi had left us, that they would arise too many questions given that they would not change very quickly. I took a week off from work to help Esme and Rose get settled with the babies. Esme would baby-sit Rose's twins while she was at school. There was a huge fight between all of the family members on what to name them but eventually we agreed on and **Andrew Dale** and **Penelope Rose McCarty Cullen** for Rose and Emmett's twins and **Ayden Alexander** and **Kayla Celeste Cullen** for our twins. I knew Esme had thought of another name for our daughter, if we could have one but she told me it felt as if it wasn't right, like it belonged to someone else. Eleazar and Carmen chose to name their twins **Diego Xavier** and **Christian Paul Denali** , while Kate chose to name her daughter, who arrived the next morning courtesy of Demetri, **Angela Crystal Denali**. We were all trilled with the new additions and the children could not get enough of them, but there was something missing, Edward's babies. We tried to track them down, even tracked that bank account, but it didn't pan out, Phil Dawson wasn't the person's real name so there was not much hope there and the money in it was being steadily transferred to another account which we could not trace. We had some private detective working on that, but it was an uphill battle. Edward had a hard time being around the infants but eventually he too was won over and would often play with them and baby-sit them. I thought that he might be practicing for if we ever found his kids. We started contemplating moving again, but I felt that it wasn't the right time. We had just arrived and too many questions would arise if we left so soon. I returned to my job at the hospital and continued to work to try to turn it around. There was, however, one patient I saw fairly often, Chief Swan's daughter Bella. She often came for medical treatment since the girl was very clumsy and would injure herself often by falling down. I didn't know why, but I felt that that girl was important to me somehow…

It had been a bit over a year since we had received the two sets of twins. We discovered, from the information the Volturi gave us, that there were 4 types of hybrids and that they were type 3 which meant that they would age very slowly and would take 8 times longer than a human child to fully mature, looking to be like they were in their late teens at full grown, just like my other children. Though they were a year old now, the looked no different than they did when they were brought home, although they were able to crawl around, walk with support and even speak. They were also far more advanced than normal human children of their ages, mentally resembling more 8-10 year old children. I was fascinated by them but what I loved most was just having them. It was raining outside when I left the house after kissing Esme and the kids goodbye, heading to work for the late shift. Emmett was playing catch with his son using a plushy blue football while Rose braded her daughter's hair and my twins were sitting on Edward's piano watching him play. Happily I headed out to work…

It was dead quiet at the hospital and I was bored. The graveyard shift I was doing was just that, as silent as a grave. I spent my time going over the information I had received from the PI, already knowing there was no hope there. They reported that the second account was a Swiss Bank account and was untraceable through their means. We would have to try our luck with the low lives we knew to try and trace that account. After I was done with the papers I decided to read a novel since I had nothing else to do. I'd barely picked up the book from my desk drawer when a nurse raced into the office. "Incoming, Dr. Cullen."

"What have we got Merry?" I asked standing up. Would I ever learn not to get bored since whenever I became bored at work a disaster happens?

"Teenage girl, 17. Cut her wrists. Her father found her in the bathtub and called 911." She paused for a minute, "Carlisle, it's the Chief's daughter Bella Swan."

I sighed. I hated it when children did this, but I especially hated the fact that it was that girl, I just felt that she was something, though I wasn't sure what… A missing puzzle piece for an unknown puzzle, maybe? "ETA?"

"Rolling in now." With that we ran out the door and to the emergency bay, right in time to see the gurney being rolled in.

"What have we got Jade?" I asked the paramedic as we ran her to the trauma bay.

"17 year old girl. Attempted suicide. She's lost a lot of blood. Gave a litter of fluids in route. Pressure cuffs are not working and she's lost a lot of blood, the bathroom was covered in it as well as the water she was soaking in fully clothed. Found unresponsive, pulse is tready and respirations are shallow. She's also cold to the touch," Jade finished her report as we transferred Bella to the trauma gurney.

"What's her blood type?" I asked, intending to give her a transfusion.

"Chief Swan doesn't know and her driver's license does not say she's a donor so it's unknown." I wanted to hit myself on the head. How could a father not know their own child's blood type? I knew all of mine and they didn't need to be given blood, they fed on it after all. I looked at the monitor hooked up to Bella; she barely had a pulse and was barely breathing. She needed blood now, but there was no time to type her. She was in shock and there was nothing we could do, she'd been found too late. She was going to die.

 **DON'T LET IT HAPPEN! SAVE HER! DON'T LET IT HAPPEN! SAVE HER! DON'T LET IT HAPPEN! SAVE HER! DON'T LET IT HAPPEN! SAVE HER! DON'T LET IT HAPPEN! SAVE HER! DON'T LET IT HAPPEN! SAVE HER! DON'T LET IT HAPPEN! SAVE HER! DON'T LET IT HAPPEN! SAVE HER!** That thought kept repeating over and over again in my head. Something compelled me to save her, but I didn't know why. I had an internal battle, trying to decide. I remembered the treaty and our promise to not create another vampire. I remembered Rose's hatred of this life and the choices that were taken away from her with it. I remembered Edward's rebellious time… Yet as I debated, my heart decided before I'd made a conscious decision. Her heart beat in my ears as I pushed the button on the monitor without being noticed. The monitor went flat line while her heart beat in my ears, just as Edward's had done. "There's nothing more we can do." I looked up at the clock, "Time of death 22:34. Is her father here?"

"No, he didn't come with her?" Merry told me.

I nodded as I covered Bella's body. Since we were so understaffed and it was the middle of the night, we had no orderlies so I wheeled the gurney down to the morgue. As I pushed it, I remembered my frantic flight home with Edward and Esme, knowing that it was about to repeat itself. I remembered the layout of the hospital Jasper had made for me in case of emergencies to see which route would work best to get Bella out of here and home. There were no security cameras at the morgue and there was an old emergency exit near it, which was never used anymore. It had no alarm and that whole hallway had no cameras either. It was the best route. Bella's heart was getting weaker; it had very little blood left to pump. She could not wait to get home. On my way to the morgue I got a bag of O- blood, the universal donor, to replace some of what she'd lost. I quickly switched out the bag of saline for the bag of blood having no time to start a new IV and squeezed the blood into her veins using an old trick I had come up with where I could use my vampire strength to squeeze every last drop in the bag into her veins immediately. Once the blood was in, her heart beat a little stronger. When we reached the morgue, I took the child into my hands, wrapping her in the blanket like a baby, just as I had done with Edward. She was a child, little more than a baby, but she'd wanted to die. "Why did you do this? What was hurting you so bad that you would make this decision?" I sighed. "I only hope that you will forgive me in time." With that I bit into her neck forcing my venom into her. Then I bit the inside of her elbows and just above where she'd cut her wrist. I licked all the wounds to seal them and hold the precious blood inside her, but taking no blood into me. Then I bit the inside of her knees and her ankles, sealing those wounds as well. Her heart began to pound frantically in my ears, strong and sure, beating to the rhythm of the fire. I had very little time to get her home before her screams began. "You'll be alright now, we'll take care of you," I told her as I held my new child close. I rose from the gurney I had sat in to bite Bella, and went to the door, wrapping the blanket more securely around her and covering her head, just as you would with an infant. I looked outside to make sure no one was around before running to the emergency exit. I pushed it open with my hip and stepped outside into the rain, bowing my body over her to keep the water away from her. _**No time to reach the car, and it's out in the open and we might be spotted,**_ I thought to myself before racing into the cover of the tree line. _**Have to run her home.**_

I raced through the green maze with my precious cargo held tightly in my hands. About a minute after I hit the tree line my phone vibrated in my pocket, and I knew who it was. I shifted Bella into one arm so I could take my blue tooth out and answered. _ **"Alice saw what you did,"**_ Esme said as soon as I answered.

"I had to save her. I couldn't let her die like that, love," I told her. __

" _ **I know. We called the Denalis and they've agreed to keep the babies for a few days while we get her settled. We're waiting for you to arrive, and Alice says you'll need to run back immediately afterwards since her father will be arriving in 15 minutes to the hospital."**_

"Will he ask to see her?" I wondered.

Esme paused for a moment and I heard her ask Alice, _**"No he'll say he doesn't want to see her and will ask that she be cremated immediately. A Jane Doe about her general size and shape will arrive at the morgue in Forks in 10 minutes. She's an orphan runaway, and no one will claim her. She can easily take Bella's place and her cremation will happen in the morning. Bella's mother will be furious with her father for his decision, as she would have wanted to see her and burry her. Alice says they will be going to court soon to battle for the rights to keep the ashes."**_

"Good, we'll be right home," I told her before hanging up.

Esme met us at the door and took Bella from my arms before running her to what would become her bedroom on the third floor if she chose to stay with us. "You better go back, Dad. Chief Swan will arrive in 8 minutes and 54 seconds to find out what's going in with Bella. Thanks for saving her."

"What did you see Alice?" I asked her, bewildered by her last sentence.

"The little sister we've been waiting for, for years." Was all she answered. I was confused by her statement, but I had no time to question her further as I had to return to the hospital to keep up appearances. I ran all the way back in and through the same door I'd slipped out of, running into the morgue to find the body Alice had promised. I lifted the blanket covering it to make certain it was the right one. The girl under it was very similar to Bella, and would pass for her. I proceeded to write Bella's toe tag and slipped it onto the foot of the body replacing the Jane Doe tag. In death at least, this girl would have a family. Returning to my office, I sat down on my desk with my head in my hands. I tried to puzzle things out. What had Alice meant with her statement? Why had I been compelled to save that girl as if my world would crumble if she were lost? What had happened to that girl that she would make such a decision? What had hurt her so bad that she'd what to die? Would she stay with us or choose to leave? But the most important question revolving in my head was: Would she be able to forgive me? A knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Come in," I called out, my head still in my hands.

Merry came in. "Dr. Cullen, Chief Swan's here." She then looked at me. "Are you alright, doctor?" she asked concerned. It was obvious that she could tell I wasn't so I decided to tell her the truth, or at least a version of it.

"No, I'm not. I have two girls and three boys her age."

Merry nodded, she had a 13-year-old daughter and knew what I meant. "What would push her to make such a decision?" I shook my head, not knowing the answer, though I would find out in 3 days. I rose from my chair and went to tell the Chief his daughter was gone.

The nurses had put Chief Swan in a private waiting room. He was a cop and I knew that he knew that this meant something bad; it was never a good sign to be put in a private waiting room as you waited for news on a critically ill or injured loved one. I took a deep breath and prepared myself to play my role before I opened the door. Chief Swan looked up into my eyes as I came in. Strangely I could detect no hint of worry, or pain in them. Strange, most parents I had faced in situations like this before were hysterical even before hearing any news. I filed that way for later examination as I stepped in the room. "Chief Swan?"

He rose from his chair and shook my hand. "Call me Charlie, Dr. Cullen." I gave a half smile remembering a very similar conversation with Bella where she asked me to call her Bella rather than Isabella. I gestured for him to take a seat. "How is she?" he asked as we sat down. Strange how I could not detect any real concern for her despite the question he'd asked. Perhaps he'd been trained to hold in his own emotions in order to get information? It was certainly a skill that most police officers had to master in order to be able to do their jobs; doctors too, as well as nurses and pretty much anyone who had to deal with delivering this kind of news about loved ones to someone.

I took another deep breath. "Bella came in, in a very critical condition. She'd lost too much blood, was in shock and barely had a heartbeat or respirations. We tried everything we could, but we were unable to revive her. I'm sorry, Charlie, but Bella passed away," I told him gently. I saw his shoulders start to shake as he bent over and held his face in his hands. Oddly enough, there was no real emotion to the gesture. I mean sure he sounded like he was crying, but I smelled no tears, and could hear that the sobs he was giving off were fake. It made me suspicious. Any other parent who'd lost a child would have been bawling on the floor and screaming. I'd seen it often in my long carrier, and had even seen it in my own son as he'd been told his children were missing. I'd held the sobbing mess that was Edward in my hands afterwards for hours trying to calm him, and Edward's children were only missing but believed to be alive, but here was a man who'd lost his only daughter, his only child, a 17-year-old girl with her whole life ahead of her because she'd taken her life and he was faking his emotions, probably because I was here and would expect some kind of emotion at the news I'd just given him? If I'd been suspicious before, now I was certain, Chief Swan had a lot to do with Bella's decision. The question was, what happened?

After a few minutes, Charlie composed himself, "I want her to be cremated immediately." That was all he said, no real emotion, no nothing. It was like we were talking about some animal rather than his child. His behavior kept raising red flags in my mind.

"Would you like to see her? I could ask the nurse to clean her up so you can see her, say goodbye?"

"No," was all he said. No emotion. More red flags went up in my mind. Still I played along with my role and nodded telling him that I would have the nurse bring in the paperwork. I left the room and told Merry to give him the paperwork for the cremation. She asked if he wanted to see the body and I told her that he didn't. She too found it strange, but went to get the paperwork. Within 5 minutes, Charlie had filled it out and was gone, yet another red flag. That was the behavior of a murderer, not a parent. When Bella awoke I would ask her what really happened to her. I was starting to wonder if this really was a suicide, or a murder made to look like one. _**'Bella'**_ was scheduled for cremation at 8am. Charlie had said he would contact Bella's mother to inform her of what happened; again he was being clinical, didn't even have any emotion towards his ex-wife as he said he would tell her. Once he was gone, I told Merry that I would be heading home early and to call me if anything happened, otherwise I'd see her on Monday. She knew I was having trouble with what had happened tonight, seeing a girl the same age as my kids die like that. I knew that she also felt it as well given that her daughter was also close in age. And part of me, admittedly, was having trouble with the notion that a life so young had been cut so short and by her own hand. However, the real reason I was going home was because I had another vigil ahead of me. My eighth child was about to be born.

I watched over Bella for the three days of her transformation. She was so still and so quiet. Edward and Esme worried about this, but I'd done the same thing and so thought nothing of it. Some of us just had the strength to hold in our screams. As long as her heart was beating strong and steady, I knew there was nothing to be worried about. Edward had managed to give her a large dosage of morphine before the venom sealed her veins and I thought that it might be helping her with the pain, which was why she was so quiet. For three days, I sat beside my new daughter, waiting for her to awaken. Throughout it all Bella's heart beat in my ears, strong and sure. I'd never heard anything so vital and knew she would be perfect. My family was always in and out of the room, checking on Bella. Eleazar and Carmen had come the next morning to take the babies to Denali for a while. I felt the loss of them as we had to send them away but we had to ensure their safety with a newborn in the house. We would make sure she was stable before introducing them to her. Alice and Esme came in after the children were gone and quietly cleaned and dressed her up since she was still covered in blood. Her body was still healing and I was able to see it. Bella had bruises all over her that were slowly fading because of the venom, one particularly bad one was in the shape of a man's hand. The girls found terrible bruises on her private parts as they cleaned her, bruises consistent with a rape. I was sure her father was responsible for those, but what exactly he'd done, only Bella could answer and she would soon. Alice dressed her in an ice blue satin dress that went down to her ankles with a sweetheart neckline and a sheer over skirt. I thought it made her look like Sleeping Beauty for some reason, with those red lips and that porcelain skin and her mahogany hair fanned out beneath her head like a hallo. She was a beautiful child, her face radiating pure innocence and I had such a hard time understanding how anyone could harm her. Edward thought the same when he came in later and saw her. I could also see him having a hard time not looking at her and not coming into the room. Hmmm, perhaps this is what Alice meant? Her missing sister, Edward's mate? I certainly hoped so, they both deserved to be happy, though if I was right about what happened to Bella, they would have long road to travel to get there.

On Sunday morning, two hours after the sun rose, just as Alice predicted, Bella's heart took off galloping towards it's final beat. "It's almost over," I told her as I stood from my chair and went to my daughter's side, informing the family in the process. They would wait downstairs for me to bring Bella down to meet them. First awakenings were overwhelming and I thought it best to not overwhelm her further by having so many people here when she awoke. Her heart gave a last quiet thud in farewell before it stopped all together. I held my breath waiting expectantly. _**Bella's red orbs opened and stared into mine…**_


	4. Chapter 3: Burning

_From the Desk of the Weavers of the Web…_

 _I want to say hello to all my readers. I know it has been a while since my last update on this and my other stories. I am currently working on them again now that my Nursing Licensing exam has passed. To make up for the long wait I will be posting the 4 chapters I have ready of this story. Stay tuned for updates on my other works. I am currently working on new chapters and will have them up soon. Please remember that my pole for the reunion of Bella and Edward in Heart By Heart is still open so please vote on how you want them reunited. Currently there's a tie between being reunited at Edward's wedding to Tanya (Option 3) and Option 1. Please vote and let me know what my readers want their reunion to be like._

 _Love_

 _Sailor Foxfire_

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Burning**

 **Bella POV**

The pain was bewildering. Exactly that – I was bewildered. I couldn't understand, couldn't make sense of what was happening. My body tried to reject the pain, and I was sucked again and again into a blackness that cut out whole seconds or maybe even minutes of the agony, making it that much harder to keep up with reality. I tried to separate them. Non-reality was black, and it didn't hurt so much. Reality was red, and it felt like I was being sawed in half, hit by a bus, punched by a prize fighter, trampled by bulls, and submerged in acid, all at the same time. Reality was feeling my body twist and flip when I couldn't possibly move because of the pain. Reality had come on so fast. The darkness had taken over, and then washed away to a wave of torture. I couldn't breathe – I had drowned once before, and this was different; it was too hot in my throat. More blackness. My arms felt like empty rubber hoses for a moment, and then they felt like nothing at all. I couldn't feel them. I couldn't feel me. The blackness rushed over my eyes more solidly than before. Like a thick blindfold, firm and fast. Covering not just my eyes but also my **self** with a crushing weight. It was exhausting to push against it. I knew it would be so much easier to give in. To let the blackness push me down, down, down to a place where there was no pain and no weariness and no worry and no fear. If it had only been for myself, I wouldn't have been able to struggle very long. I was only human, with no more than human strength. But this wasn't just about me. If I did the easy thing now like I had wanted to do, let the black nothingness erase me, I would hurt them. Zelya, who had helped me as much as she could, who protected me as much as she could, she was my friend and I couldn't let her down. My dream boy, who'd haunted my dreams since I first came to Forks, though I knew he'd never want anything to do with me, I wasn't worthy of him. Edward, whom I felt as if he were calling out to my very soul… But it was so dark here that I couldn't see either of their faces. Nothing seemed real. That made it hard not to give up.

I kept pushing against the black, though, almost a reflex. I wasn't trying to lift it. I was just resisting. Not allowing it to crush me completely. I wasn't Atlas, and the black felt as heavy as a planet; I couldn't shoulder it. All I could do was not be entirely obliterated. It was sort of the pattern to my life – I'd never been strong enough to deal with the things outside my control, to attack the enemies or outrun them. To avoid the pain. Always human and weak, the only thing I'd ever been able to do was keep going. Endure. Survive. It had been enough up to this point. It would have to be enough today. I would endure this until help came. I held the blackness of nonexistence that I had wrongly chosen before at bay by inches. It wasn't enough, though – that determination. As the time ground on and on and the darkness gained by tiny eighths and sixteenths of my inches, I needed something more to draw strength from. I couldn't pull even Edward's face into view. Not Zelya's or my mother's who had been so loving to me despite everything… Nothing. It terrified me, and I wondered if it was too late. I felt myself slipping – there was nothing to hold on to. No! I had to survive this. There were people depending on me…

 **MY BABIES** … Cameron David Swan, Caitlyn Ann Marie Swan, Achilles Endymion Swan, Briseis Ariadna Swan, Lestat Amadeo De Lioncourt Swan Jr., Akasha Gabrielle De Lioncourt Swan, Tarquin Louis De Lioncourt Swan, Renesmee Carlie Swan, Edward Masen Swan, Elizabeth Alicia Swan, Anthony Charley Swan, Aurora Ariel Swan, Melody Rose Swan, Carlisle Dale Swan, and Angelina Lillian Swan. And then, though I still couldn't see anything, suddenly I could _**feel**_ something. Like phantom limbs, I imagined I could feel my arms again. And in them, a bunch of little somethings small and hard and very, very warm, though two were cold. That spot of heat in my phantom arms felt so real. I clutched it closer. It was exactly where my heart should be. Holding tight the warm memory of my children, I knew that I would be able to fight the darkness as long as I needed to. The warmth beside my heart got more and more real, warmer and warmer. Hotter. The heat was so real it was hard to believe that I was imagining it. Hotter. Uncomfortable now. Too hot. Much, much too hot. Like grabbing the wrong end of a curling iron – my automatic response was to drop the scorching thing in my arms. But there was nothing in my arms. My arms were not curled to my chest. My arms were dead things lying somewhere at my side. The heat was inside me. The burning grew – rose and peaked and rose again until it surpassed anything I'd ever felt. I felt the pulse behind the fire raging now in my chest and realized that I'd found my heart just in time to wish I never had. To wish that I'd embraced the blackness while I'd still had the chance. I wanted to raise my arms and claw my chest open and rip the heart from it – anything to get rid of this torture. But I couldn't feel my arms, couldn't move one vanished finger. Phil raping and beating me. That was nothing. That was a soft place to rest on a feather bed. I'd take that now, a hundred times. A hundred rapes and beatings. I'd take it and be grateful. Charlie abusing me. That was nothing. That was floating in a pool of cool water. I'd take it a thousand times. Take it and be grateful.

The fire blazed hotter and I wanted to scream. To beg for someone to kill me now, before I lived one more second in this pain. But I couldn't move my lips. The weight was still there, pressing on me. I realized it wasn't the darkness holding me down; it was my body. So heavy. Burying me in the flames that were chewing their way out from my heart now, spreading with impossible pain through my shoulders and stomach, scalding their way up my throat, licking at my face. It pinned me down and gagged me. Held me paralyzed while I burned. All I wanted was to die. To never have been born. The whole of my existence did not outweigh this pain. Wasn't worth living through it for one more heartbeat. _**Let me die, let me die, let me die.**_ And, for a never-ending space, that was all there was. Just the fiery torture, and my soundless shrieks, pleading for death to come. Nothing else, not even time. So that made it infinite, with no beginning and no end. One infinite moment of pain.

The only change came when suddenly, impossibly, my pain was doubled, but why, I don't know. The endless burn raged on. It could have been seconds or days, weeks or years, but, eventually, time came to mean something again. Three things happened together, grew from each other so that I didn't know which came first: time restarted, my body's weight faded, and I got stronger. I could feel the control of my body come back to me in increments, and those increments were my first markers of the time passing. I knew it when I was able to twitch my toes and twist my fingers into fists. I knew it, but I did not act on it. Though the fire did not decrease one tiny degree – in fact, I began to develop a new capacity for experiencing it, a new sensitivity to appreciate, separately, each blistering tongue of flame that licked through my veins – I discovered that I could think around it. It was then I knew what was happening… I was becoming a vampire; Zelya must have found me in time. I could remember _**why**_ I shouldn't scream. I could remember the reason why I'd committed to enduring this unendurable agony. I could remember that, though it felt impossible now, there was something that might be worth the torture. This happened just in time for me to hold on when the weights left my body. To anyone watching me, there would be no change. But for me, as I struggled to keep the screams and thrashing locked up inside my body, where they couldn't hurt anyone else, it felt like I'd gone from being _**tied**_ to the stake as I burned, to _**gripping**_ that stake to hold myself in the fire. I had just enough strength to lie there unmoving while I was charred alive. It would scare my babies if they heard me screaming and I was sure they were close by. Zelya could not have sent them away and even if she had they would have stayed by my side.

My hearing got clearer and clearer, and I could count the frantic, pounding beats of my heart to mark the time. I could count the shallow breaths that gasped through my teeth. I could count the low, even breaths that came from somewhere close beside me. These moved slowest, so I concentrated on them. They meant the most time passing. More even than a clock's pendulum, those breaths pulled me through the burning seconds toward the end. I continued to get stronger, my thoughts clearer. When new noises came, I could listen. There were light footsteps, the whisper of air stirred by an opening door. The footsteps got closer, andI felt pressure against the inside of my wrist, fingers I thought belonged to Zelya. I couldn't feel the coolness of the fingers that should have been there. The fire blistered away every memory of cool.

"Still no change?"

"None." The lightest pressure, breath against my scorched skin.

"There's no scent of the morphine left."

"I know," an angel's voice spoke.

"Bella? Can you hear me?" I wasn't sure who was speaking, I didn't recognize the voice but it wasn't Zelya, though they seemed vaguely familiar. I knew, beyond all doubt, that if I unlocked my teeth I would lose it – I would shriek and screech and writhe and thrash. If I opened my eyes, if I so much as twitched a finger – any change at all would be the end of my control. Pressure on my fingers. Still, I stayed paralyzed.

"Maybe... you were too late, Carlisle." The voice was muffled; it broke on the word _**late**_ _._

"Listen to her heart, Edward. It's stronger than even Emmett's was. I've never heard anything so _**vital**_ _._ She'll be perfect."

"But she's so still. There _**must**_ be something wrong."

"Maybe, maybe not. I did the same remember. She'll be fine"

A broken whisper. "She must be in agony."

"We don't know that. She had so much morphine in her system. We don't know the effect that will have on her experience."

Through all this, the racking fire went right on burning me. But there was so much space in my head now. Room to ponder their conversation, room to remember what had happened, room to look ahead to the future, with still endless room left over to suffer in. Also room to worry. Where were my babies and Zelya? Why weren't they here? Where was I? Who was I with? Would they hurt me too, like everyone else? I went back to counting the breaths beside me; it helped me pass the time. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was becoming a vampire and Zelya was not with me. I wondered if perhaps the Volturi had gotten me and were kind enough to change me. If they had what happened to my babies? Ten thousand, nine hundred forty-three breaths later, a different set of footsteps whispered into the room. Lighter. More... rhythmic.

"How much longer?" a male voice asked.

"It won't be long now," Alice told him.

"Focus, Alice, When?"

"Soon, some time in the morning."

"Could you concentrate for me? On the clock – give me an estimate."

Alice sighed. "Give me a sec… Can't see one but the sun looks low enough that it shouldn't be more than an hour or two after sunrise." Quiet breathing.

"Thank you, sweetie."

"She's going to be dazzling." Her words gave me hope that maybe I didn't resemble the charcoal briquette I felt like. It seemed as if I _**must**_ be just a pile of charred bones by now. Every cell in my body had been razed to ash. However, the tone of her voice seemed like it was hiding something else as well, a secret only she was privy to. It scared me that they would hurt me too. I heard the girl, Alice – funny who did I know by that name, I was so confused – breeze out of the room. I heard the swish of the fabric she moved, rubbing against itself. I heard the quiet buzz of the light hanging from the ceiling. I heard the faint wind brushing against the outside of the house. I could hear _**everything**_ _._ Downstairs, someone was watching a ball game. The Mariners were winning by two runs. It scared me, maybe Charlie was here and he would hurt me some more. Baseball was not interesting enough to distract me from the pain, so I listened to the breathing again, counting the seconds.

Twenty-one thousand, nine hundred seventeen and a half seconds later, the pain changed. On the good-news side of things, it started to fade from my fingertips and toes. Fading _**slowly**_ _,_ but at least it was doing something new. This had to be it. The pain was on its way out... And then the bad news. The fire in my throat wasn't the same as before. I wasn't only on fire, but I was now parched, too. Dry as bone. So thirsty. Burning fire, and burning thirst... Also bad news: The fire inside my heart got hotter. How was that _**possible?**_ My heartbeat, already too fast, picked up – the fire drove its rhythm to a new frantic pace. The fire retreated from my palms, leaving them blissfully pain-free and cool. But it retreated to my heart, which blazed hot as the sun and beat at a furious new speed. The loudest sound in the room was my frenzied heart, pounding to the rhythm of the fire. "Ah," someone said. "It's almost over." My relief at his words was overshadowed by the excruciating pain in my heart. My wrists were free, though, and my ankles. The fire was totally extinguished there. My fingers twitched – the irritation breaking through my perfect facade. The room went silent besides the jack-hammering of my heart as they all stopped breathing for a second in response. And then – _**oh!**_ My heart took off, beating like helicopter blades, the sound almost a single sustained note; it felt like it would grind through my ribs. The fire flared up in the center of my chest, sucking the last remnants of the flames from the rest of my body to fuel the most scorching blaze yet. The pain was enough to stun me, to break through my iron grip on the stake. My back arched, bowed as if the fire was dragging me upward by my heart. I allowed no other piece of my body to break rank as my torso slumped back to the table. It became a battle inside me – my sprinting heart racing against the attacking fire. Both were losing. The fire was doomed, having consumed everything that was combustible; my heart galloped toward its last beat. The fire constricted, concentrating inside that one remaining human organ with a final, unbearable surge. The surge was answered by a deep, hollow-sounding thud. My heart stuttered twice, and then thudded quietly again just once more. There was no sound. No breathing. For a moment, the absence of pain was all I could comprehend. And then I opened my eyes and gazed above me in wonder. _**I was looking into the golden eyes of Carlisle Cullen…**_


	5. Chapter 4: Story of My Life

**Chapter 4: Story of My Life**

 **Bella POV**

Startled, I whipped myself off the bed, and in 2 seconds flat I was pressed up against the wall with a feral hiss running from my lips. Carlisle raised his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry this must be confusing for you."

"Where am I? What did you do to me?" I demanded. I was confused and fearful. Here I was alone with a man I barely knew after so long of being raped and beaten. It scared me to think of what could have happened to me particularly since I remembered having cut my wrists to end my life. There was also this nagging feeling that I was missing or forgetting something.

Sadness overcame Carlisle's face. "You are in my home." I was instantly cautious. No one had ever been to the mysterious Cullen house. In fact, I didn't think anyone had ever even seen it before. Not a good sign given my history.

"Why?" I whispered.

Carlisle gazed at me with ancient sadness in his eyes, "You committed suicide, I had to help you, save you."

I slid down the wall onto the floor and buried my face into my hands. "But I wanted to die; I was finally going to be free. Why did you have to save me? Why?"

Carlisle placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "You were brought into the hospital, but it was too late to do anything. You were going to die. I couldn't let that happen, so I changed you into a… into a vampire. I'm sorry."

I took my face out of my hands and look into his sad topaz eyes, looking for any sign that he was joking. I found none. "You're telling the truth aren't you? I really am a vampire?" Why did it seem like this was something I had wanted before? What was I forgetting? I was so confused.

He nodded, "Yes."

I sighed, figures. "What does my family know?" I didn't know why I asked that. I mean I knew I meant my parents but why did I ask? Why did I care considering everything they'd put me through? Could I have meant another family besides them, even though I had none… I think?

Carlisle looked straight into my eyes, with a look begging for me to understand. "They were told you had died," I glared at the floor. Whatever, it was not like anyone would care anyway, maybe with the exception of my mother. I wondered how she was taking it. But then I knew that with me gone she could finally be the child she'd always wanted to be. But what about Phil? What would he do to her now?

I got up off the floor and look at Carlisle. "What happens now? Where do I go? What does everyone think?" I was going to ask more but Carlisle raised a hand to stop me.

"In good time, but first would you be willing to speak to my family."

I was suddenly cautious. "What do you want me to talk about?" I said with a guarded look.

Carlisle's face grew serious. "We would like to know why you committed suicide, and about yourself."

I froze. What would they think of me when they knew about my past? Would they be disgusted? I mentally scoffed. _**Who cared, I never cared before. And even if they're disgusted by you, that wouldn't be anything new. Oh, what the hell. What am I missing though?**_ "Sure I'll talk to them," he smiled encouragingly and quickly walked out of the room, I followed after him. As we walked, I looked around. Everything was so clear! And my steps seemed so steady, which was surprising since I was so clumsy. Being clumsy was always my excuse whenever Phil or Charlie left a mark…I shook my head and forced myself to focus on the situation at hand. I followed Carlisle around a corner into the living room. I looked around at the six people sitting motionlessly around the room, I recognized the Cullen children from school. They were all breathtakingly beautiful. The one named Emmett looked like a body builder and was sitting on the loveseat. He was huge, which might have scared me if his face hadn't held the innocence of a child. The girl next to him…Rosalie I think, was runway model beautiful; she also glared at me with eyes that screamed hatred, so I looked away quickly. The girl on the couch's name was Alice and the boy next to her was Jasper. Both looked like they wanted to cry for some reason, but only Alice was looking at me. Jasper looked like he was trying to comfort her. He was rubbing soothing circles on her back worriedly. I turned my attention away to the two on the other side of the room. The bronze haired boy I knew because he was my lab partner, his name was Edward. My human eyes didn't do him justice, and I feel a pang of sadness knowing someone as perfect as him wouldn't want someone as imperfect as me. I had a huge crush on him, okay far more than that, but he never showed any interest, not like I deserved it anyway. I shook my head. _**This is not the time Bella,**_ I screamed at myself. It was not like he showed any interest anyway. In fact the first day I met him, he looked like he wanted to tear me to shreds! I shuddered at the memory, and grudgingly tore my eyes from Edward to the last person. She had caramel hair and I didn't think I'd met her. Maybe she was Carlisle's wife; she looked about the same age.

I was shaken out of my speculation by Carlisle's voice. "Everyone this is Isabella Swan. Isabella this is my family. Though I believe you've met my children." I nodded a yes before Carlisle continued. "As you all know I turned Bella after she committed suicide, and that you're all wondering why." Everyone nodded a yes and Carlisle continued. "So I am going to let her explain her reasons, and tell us about herself, and in return we will answer any questions she may have and tell her about us. Then I would like to extend to Bella the invitation to live with us." To say I was shocked was an understatement. He wanted me to live with them? He didn't even know me! Would they still want me after they knew my past? Would they still accept me after I found the thing that I knew I was forgetting in my confusion? Would they help me figure that out? My anxiety level rose. Suddenly I felt calm. How odd. Carlisle looked over to me and gestured, "Would you like to begin Bella?"

I sat down in the only available seat and took a deep unneeded breath. "Obviously I didn't have a happy life or else I wouldn't be here. I won't think any less of any of you if you want me to leave after you know my story. I'll leave without any problems." Alice started to say something but I raised my hand. "Let me finish then you can say what you wish." Alice looked irritated, but closed her mouth. "My decision to end my life wasn't a rash one. Nor was it for only one reason. It all started when my mother remarried to a man named Phil Dwyer." I shuddered lightly at his name before I continued. "He was kind at first. He never even raised his voice to us. He was a great guy, but that all changed when my mother had to go out of town for a week when I was 14." I clenched my jaw in anger. "He called me up to his bedroom. Rambling on about how I got a poor grade in my math class. He said that, _**"bad girls get punished"**_. He then threw me atop his bed and pinned me down…" I closed my eyes and let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "I'm sure you can all guess what happened next," I murmured softly before looking at them. Rosalie stopped giving me the death glare. Alice and Esme looked like they wanted to cry. Emmett, Jasper, and Edward looked like they wanted to hunt Phil down and torture him to death, slowly. And Carlisle looked like he was questioning his faith in humanity. We sat in silence for about a minute before Carlisle gestured for me to continue. "After that night Phil would look for any opportunity to, " **punish** " me. Sometimes he would even create his own reasons…"

 **~Flashback~**

 _It had been a year since my nightmare had begun, and I was now 15. I had Phil's dinner on the table just as the door slammed, announcing his arrival. My mom had been out of town for two days visiting a cousin, and was due back tomorrow. I was counting the minutes; Phil never beat me when mom was home. Phil stomped into the kitchen over to the table. He glared over at me but I knew better than to look him in the face. Last time I did that he cracked a rib, he kicked me so hard. I shuddered at the memory as Phil looked around the kitchen. I already knew what he was doing. He was looking for an excuse to beat me. I doubted he'd find one though. I cleaned the kitchen top to bottom this morning, and made his favorite for dinner. Cheese steak and baked potato with a beer. I grinned mentally. Maybe I wouldn't get beat today. Phil's scowled when he found nothing wrong with the room, and then his gaze fell upon the meal I prepared for him. He got that sick smirk that never failed to chill me to my very soul, and shoved the meal and beer to the floor. With a crash the plate broke into several pieces, the beer poured onto the floor and splattered onto the walls, and the food was scattered about. Phil smiled and said in a voice of mock disappointment, "Isabella, when I come home all I ask is that there is food on the table, and that the house be clean. And what do I come home to? Perfectly good food dirtying up my floor," he shook his head in fake disappointment, and moved to stand in front of me. As he walked over he purposefully stepped onto the food, grinding it into the carpeting. That would definitely leave a stain. I stood perfectly still wracking my brain for a way to escape punishment. But I knew no matter what I did I would be beaten and quite possibly assaulted. Before I could think further Phil slapped me. Other than my head being thrown back, I didn't react. "What do you have to say for yourself Bella?" Phil sneered._

 _"I'm sorry," I mumbled, my eyes on the floor._

 _Without warning Phil slugged me in the stomach, effectively knocking the air out of me. I doubled over, gasping for breath. "You're sorry what? Isabella!" Phil shouted with a punch to the side._

 _I gasped in pain before mumbling a response. "I'm sorry, father." He'd started forcing me to call him father whenever he beat me. He even made me call him daddy when he was raping me. And then there was pain everywhere. Hits and kicks rained down unto my 15-year-old frame till I was on the ground and Phil was kicking me in the stomach and ribs. I bit my lip till it bled to keep from crying out; I managed to only make little gasps of pain in response. The last thing I saw before I fell into darkness was Phil undoing his pants._

 **~End flashback~**

I came out of my thoughts to see all the Cullens looking at me with concern. I offered a small sheepish smile before continuing where I left off. "Sometimes he did it without an excuse made up or real. Phil would beat me everyday before my mother returned from work, and rape me every night. Whenever he left bruises, people would just assume it was because of my clumsiness…not even my own mother suspected anything. I tried telling her once, but she wouldn't listen, too blinded by him. Phil made me pay for it by putting me in the hospital. I was in a coma for 3 days and hospitalized for two weeks because of his abuse, but no one suspected a thing." I took a deep breath and avoided looking into the pitying faces around me. I felt as if there was something missing, something crucial, between this portion of the story and what came next, but I didn't know what. I contemplated telling them about my confusion in this area, but I didn't know how to voice it. "I decided to live with my father here in Forks, because one night Phil took things too far…"

 **~Flashback~**

 _ **"I'll be back in an hour sweetie, don't worry,"**_ _my mother's words rang in my head. She left about 10 minutes ago, and as soon as she was out the door I ran up to my room. Hoping Phil would forget I even existed; I sat at my desk and tried to distract myself with homework. I was just picking up a pencil when Phil threw open my door so hard it left a dent in the wall. Phil ran over, latched onto my brown waves, and pulled me backwards. I fell out of my chair and fell hard on my shoulder. A searing pain coursed though me and I made a deadly mistake. I made a squeak in pain. A huge grin crossed Phil's disgusting face "Wrong move Isabella," he sneered. "Now you have to be punished." He clamped onto my injured arm painfully, and dragged me to his bedroom. I didn't fight back; this would be painful enough without giving Phil reasons to hurt me. Once we were in his room Phil yanked me onto my feet, locked the door so I couldn't escape, and sat down on his feet. He looked me straight in the eye, and said one word. "Strip."_

 _My mouth fell open and I snapped it closed._ _ **What! There was no way in hell I was willingly partaking in his sick abuse of me.**_ _I squared my shoulders and glared as I spoke, "No."_

 _Phil was stunned for a moment, but only a moment. He launched of the bed and slapped me so hard I fell into the dresser and saw stars. A sharp kick slammed into my stomach and a hand wrapped into my hair. Phil yanked me up by my hair and, before tossing me onto the bed, he whispered into my ear, "I warned you what would happen if you ever disobeyed bitch." Phil pulled out a knife and roughly cut my clothes from my body. The knife cut into my flesh at some places, leaving jagged bleeding cuts on my arms, legs, and stomach. I heard a zip and Phil slammed into me. A squeak escaped my mouth, as he continued to roughly pound into me. I closed my eyes and tried to pretend I was anywhere but here, unsuccessfully. After about 15 minutes he finished, and started to beat me. "You're a little bitch you know that, Isabella," he sneered between punches. Everything seemed to go in fast forward then. I glared at Phil and spit into his face, all of the sudden I was flying down the stairs. Each time my body contacted with the stairs, it was like an explosion of pain erupted in me. Then I hit the bottom, every part of me was pounding with pain. It was almost numbing, I felt a warm sticky liquid spread around me, and then I smell it, blood. I knew Phil was beating me, but I was not really there, until Phil scream at me. "_ _ **I'LL TEACH YOU TO IGNORE ME YOU LITTLE WHORE! PAY ATTENTION OR I'LL SLIT YOUR WHORE MOTHER'S THROAT!**_ _"_

 _I was shaken out of my lethargy long enough to mumble, "No…not…Renée." and I fell back._

 _As I was passing out Phil started to rape me again. "You'll never escape me Isabella," and then everything went black._

~ **End Flashback** ~

I came out of my thoughts and took a deep breath, before I started again. "He raped me, and then threw me down the stairs with all his strength. He then beat me at the bottom until I was laying in a pool of my own blood. That night Phil gave me a concussion, two broken fingers, three broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and fractures in my radius and thigh bone." Gasps came from around the room, and I heard Esme murmur quietly. I ignored them and continue. "But Phil didn't stop there. He threatened to murder my mother in front of me, and as I was falling unconscious he raped me again." Ashamed, I fixed my gaze on my hands before continuing in little more than a whisper. "I told my mother I wanted to spend more time with my father and asked to move in with him. She wanted me to stay, but I just couldn't deal with Phil anymore." I sobbed, and waited for the traitor tears to come and I was shocked to find no tears fall from my eyes. My hand flew to my eyes, and I barely choked out, "Why can't I cry?"

Carlisle gave me a sad smile, "I'm sorry, vampires cannot cry, eat, or sleep."

I didn't respond. How much was going to be taken from me? I buried my face in my hands for a moment, feeling like crying again. A wave of calm suddenly enveloped me, odd, but I was not going to question it, I had a story to finish. "When I started living with Charlie he seemed strict but OK. I was expected to keep the house and do the cooking, and he was always insulting me. But I didn't mind, he was better than Phil, at least at first." I look up at them now as I continued. "About four months ago Charlie started to beat me. All because I had forgotten to make dinner one night. I had been reading, and wasn't watching the time. When he came home and saw I hadn't made dinner he punched me in the face, and said I couldn't mooch off him without consequences… It got worse from there. Just like with Phil I was beaten daily. But he was still better than Phil, and I had no where to run this time." I took another deep breath, and clasped my hands tightly. "The night I chose to end my life, was the worst night of my life… Charlie had apologized for being abusive to me and said he loved me; that he'd changed. I was so blinded with joy by the prospect of having a father that I didn't see through his ruse." I shuddered at the memory. "A bit later I was reading in my bedroom when Charlie came in holding a bat, a belt and handcuffs. I realized what was going to happen too late. He hit me in the head with the bat and I fell to the floor dazed. By the time I regained my wits, Charlie was finishing handcuffing me to my bed post." I paused for a moment so I didn't start sobbing. "He beat me with the belt for over an hour. All the time telling me how stupid I was for thinking anyone would care about someone as worthless as me. After he was done beating me he raped me…my own father. When he finished, he punched me in the face un-cuffed me from the bed, and left saying I had an hour to clean up the blood on the floor. I was so battered I couldn't move for 15 minutes. When I was finally able to move, I picked up a knife and went to end my life. I didn't bother with a note. It was not like I anyone would have cared." I looked at each of their faces. I felt as if part of my story was missing and I was so confused, but I chose not to voice it for now. "That's my story. I understand if you don't want someone like me to stay with you. All I ask is that you teach me how to survive as a vampire, and I'll be out of your hair as soon as I can manage."

Suddenly I was surrounded by all the Cullens. I flinched at the proximity, as they started talking. " **NO** Bella we want you to stay! And me and you are going to be best friends!" Alice shouted.

"Please stay Bella, we would love to have you as part of the family," Esme said in a motherly voice.

"We don't think any less of you for things outside of your control," Carlisle said kindly.

"I would love to have you as part of the family. You deserve one," muttered Rosalie quietly.

"Come on Bells! I need someone new to arm wrestle with!" boomed Emmett. I had to grin at him. Jasper simply smiled and I was flooded with feelings of love and acceptance. And Edward only smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

I smiled weakly, "Ok, I'll stay."


	6. Chapter 5: Learning the Truths

**Chapter 5: Learning the Truths**

 **Bella POV**

"Tell me what happened after I committed suicide." I hated to bring this up more, but I need to know what happened. I was so confused.

Carlisle cleared his throat. "Well your father called 911 after he found you and you were brought into the hospital. You had lost too much blood, barely had a heartbeat, and weren't responding. Your father didn't know your blood type, so we couldn't give you any blood, and there was no time to type you. You had maybe minutes left, and for reasons I cannot understand, I felt compelled to save you. So I made it appear as though you were dead and wheeled you to the morgue. Once I was sure no one would see, I bit you and ran you to my home. Charlie came to the hospital a while later and I told him you'd died. He tried to act like he felt something, but I knew that was not the case. He asked for you to be cremated immediately and did not want to see you. It was all very strange behavior, more like a murderer trying to hide a crime than a parent who'd lost a child, which I will admit to you, Bella, told me that he was at least in part responsible for what happened. I supplied a cadaver for the cremation, so officially you are dead and " **your** " ashes have been delivered to your father."

I nodded, "Fine," I mumbled while gazing out the large windows. My father didn't even care what'd happened to me. For Gods sake he didn't even know his own daughter's blood type! Sure I was not surprised…but still I hoped like the moron I was.

"I am very sorry if you did not want this life, I hope you understand that I did it in your best interests," Carlisle said sadly.

I was shocked. Yes I was angry at the path my life had gone, but I didn't want Carlisle to think I was angry with him. I took a deep breath before I started. "I don't blame you in the slightest Carlisle. Yes, I would not have chosen this life…but you did what you did with only good intentions. Thank you for that, it's the first time anyone's ever done that for me."

A brilliant smile lighted the doctor's face, "Thank you Bella."

I managed a weak smile in return before I was struck with panic over one question. What do I eat? "What do vampires eat?" I blurted out without thinking about how stupid it sounded. "I know vampires drink blood. I'm not foolish, but…" I trailed off.

Thankfully Carlisle answered my question before I embarrassed myself further. "Well Bella, as I'm sure you know vampires drink blood. Most vampires drink human blood, but my family and myself only drink the blood of animals. That is why our eyes are golden. Vampires who drink human blood and newborn vampires, like yourself, have red eyes."

Carlisle continued to talk but I was not listening. Red eyes? I jumped up and ran to the mirror. I gasped at my reflection. "My eyes…" The woman in the mirror was unnaturally beautiful. She had flawless pale white skin, and dark mahogany hair that reached her waist with small curls at the ends. Her body was perfectly shaped with subtly defined muscle, and her lips were a perfect rosy shade. She was an angel with eyes as red as the fires of hell. My hand flew to my mouth as I let out a cry at seeing my eyes…my eyes. My chocolate brown eyes that I had grown to love were gone. Gone and replaced with the eyes of a blood drinking monster. A monster like me. And they were nagging at that confused corner of my mind.

" **GUYS, GRAB HER!** " Alice screamed out, but it was too late. I was already running out the door into the forest at speeds I never thought possible, and I pushed myself faster still. I didn't know where I was going, just that I needed to get away from here. And I also felt a pull as if whatever I was forgetting in my confusion was trying to get me to find it. I heard myself being pursued by multiple people but I didn't care. I would find a way to end my existence, I vowed. I refused to be a monster like so many people in my life. I'd rather die.

Suddenly a force slammed into me from behind pinning me to the ground. I struggled against them and suddenly there were more people pressing down on me. " **LET ME GO!** " I screamed at the people holding me down.

A wave of calm hit me, my struggles stopped, but I started sobbing. Why me! God must hate me. Why else would he let me survive Phil and Charlie just to let me turn into a monster? Someone picked me up and I buried my face into their neck and sobbed. "Shhhh, Bella. It's alright," Edward murmured comfortingly. As soon as he spoke I pulled away, I didn't deserve anyone's comfort especially his.

I put my face into my hands and screamed as loud as I could " **WHY!** " Anger coursed through my veins, and I punched the nearest tree in two. It crashed to the ground loudly sending small animals running.

"Wow she's got quite a punch," someone said appreciatively. I ignored it as another wave of calm hit me, all my anger evaporated.

Carlisle's face was creased with worry and sadness as he spoke to me, "Bella why did you run from us?"

I clasped my hands. "I'm sorry. It's just…When I saw my eyes…" I trailed off, all the Cullens looked at me with understanding, and Rosalie wrapped an arm around me in comfort.

"The eyes will turn gold in a few months on a diet of animal blood. They won't always look so…startling," she said trying to comfort me. It did make me feel a bit better knowing my eyes wouldn't always look so ghoulish. I leaned into Rosalie, and she wrapped her arms around me. Tucking my head under her chin, she stroked my hair, I was instantly calmed.

Alice skipped over to me "Will you come back with us, Bella? Please," she said with one of the best puppy dog faces I'd ever seen. I thought for half a second and nodded. Alice clapped her hands together in excitement. "Yeah! I get a new sister! Oh we have to get your room put together, and go shopping!" she squealed. Everyone laughed and Rosalie and Alice each took one of my hands and we ran back to the house.

The Cullens had been talking to me for over an hour about vampires. Their rules, diet, abilities, everything. I'd learned that Jasper could control emotions, Alice could see the future, and Edward could read minds. I almost had a panic attack, thinking that Edward had heard everything I had thought. But Edward told me my mind was silent to him, much to my relief. Carlisle's voice shook me from my thoughts. I told them about the confusion I felt and they explained that for the first few hours to a few days after awakening, newborns were always confused because of the change; that parts of their memories could be suppressed by the change, which only added to the confusion. However, it only lasted a few hours to a few days at most, and I would get those pieces I was confused about back. Anything could trigger my memory of it. I told them how seeing my eyes kept nagging at that confusion and they said it was normal. I would soon have those pieces back. "Do you have anymore questions for us Bella?" Carlisle asked me kindly.

"Um. No I believe I understand everything." My throat was starting to get to me and I rubbed it lightly with one hand.

"Um…Carlisle I think Bella should hunt now," Jasper said looking at me worriedly.

" **OH!** Of course! Forgive me Bella, your thirst must be uncomfortable. It's just you act so much older than you are," Carlisle smiled at me appreciatively.

I wondered what he meant by that. Just as I was about to ask him Rosalie interrupted. "Alice and I can take her hunting."

Alice squealed so loud I covered my ears. " **YES! Sister bonding time!** And then when we get back we can find you a new outfit!" Alice was practically bouncing with excitement.

I grinned at her energy, and looked at Rosalie. "Is she always so hyper?"

She grinned. "You have **NO** idea," Rosalie and I burst into giggles.

"Oh, Ha, Ha, laugh it up you too," Alice said with a fake pout.

I grinned, "Sorry Alice." The pout disappeared into a smile, and both Rosalie and Alice grab my hands "Lets hunt." and we ran into the forest.

 **Edward POV**

We had just finished telling Bella about vampires and now Rosalie and Alice were taking her hunting. I wanted so badly to go with her, but I had to admit that Bella was closer to Alice and Rosalie than me. It left me with a raging jealousy that I didn't understand. I clenched my fists. _**You alright Edward?**_ Jasper thought at me. _**Your emotions are all over the place.**_ Jasper's face was full of worry.

"Yes I'm fine I'm just going to go upstairs for a bit." Before Jasper could answer I was up in my room. I grinned to myself, I loved being fastest. I put a Debussy CD into my stereo, and flopped down onto my black couch. This girl Bella was such a mystery to me. Ever since I met her in class I'd never once heard her thoughts. At first I thought my ability was losing its potency, but Carlisle theorized that it was simply a latent talent. That Bella was somehow able to shield herself. As if it wasn't frustrating enough that I could not read her thoughts, she was also my singer. More than once I almost gave into her irresistible scent and drained her dry at school. I groaned, _**I almost killed the beautiful girl. Wait beautiful. Stop thinking like that Edward, she barely knows you, and with her past she's probably not going to be very receptive of male attention anyway.**_ I sighed, I couldn't help it. She was hands down the most breathtaking girl or vampire I had ever met. Her long thick mahogany hair that curled at the ends, her flawless ivory skin, her rosy lips, and her eyes… Her eyes were like deep pools of chocolate. I could lose myself into their depths and be happy. They expressed so much emotion, but lately all they showed was sadness. I stifled a snarl. I wished I could hunt down those responsible for her pain, and show them the true meaning of agony. It escaped me how anyone could harm such an innocent, intelligent girl. I admit that, before she told us why she ended her life, I was mainly concerned about the inconvenience to my family, just like when Rose had first come to the family. When I became aware of her circumstances, I exploded into guilt. Her father and stepfather beat and raped her and her mother was oblivious. I was as big a monster as them for thinking so low of Bella. I wasn't the only one who felt guilty, Rosalie was making a huge effort to be friends with Bella, because of how she acted and thought of her. Rosalie would be a good friend to Bella; they could relate to each other on some level. Rosalie could help Bella heal. I turned up the volume on my stereo as Clair de Lune turned on.

Something Rose thought was troubling me. Rose thought Bella was taking everything too well. Both with being turned into a vampire and her past. I nodded to myself, it was true. Bella didn't flinch under anyone's touch, didn't act uneasy around the men. The only thing about her was the dead look in her eyes. It was like she accepted what happened but refused to think about it now. Like putting a Band-Aid on a cut that needed stitches. Also she took being a vampire almost in stride; she could ignore her thirst, had good temper control, and only got upset when she saw her eyes. That was the first time she lost control of her temper…and the first time I embraced her. I smiled sadly, though it lasted only a moment it was amazing, but as soon as she realized I was embracing her she pulled away. I heard in Jasper's thoughts that she felt unworthy. Of what? It couldn't be of me. My eyebrows furrowed, she must simply feel unworthy of comfort. My shoulders squared determinedly. In that moment I vowed that no matter how long it took, I would make sure she never felt unworthy of anything again. My thoughts flitted once again to my missing children, as they had for months now. I had begun to resign myself to never seeing them but it hurt so much. I wondered how they were, if they were alright, or if they were suffering like Bella had suffered. Would I.M. Swan take good care of them or would she be like Bella's parents? I could only hope they were alright. However, ever since the day I met Bella I'd felt as if an important puzzle piece had found it's way to me and that I was that much closer to them for some strange reason. As the song changed I vowed to help Bella and once again vowed to find my children.

 **Bella POV**

Rosalie, Alice, and I streaked through the forest like comets, and yet nothing blurred with the speed. I could see every detail, even in the smallest blade of grass. I let out a peal of laughter from the exhilaration and Rosalie and Alice start laughing with me as we slowed to a stop by a small stream. "Alright Bella we're going to be hunting deer for your first hunt," Rosalie said. I was suddenly nervous; how was I supposed to kill a deer, let alone find one?

The confusion must have shown on my face, because Alice grabbed my hand, "Close your eyes and breathe deeply," she ordered. I hesitantly close my eyes and took a deep breath. Thousands of scents were around me, and then I smell it. A warm wet flavor that was like a fistful of flames down my throat. Before I knew it I was stalking through the underbrush. I spotted the herd of deer and immediately zeroed in on the largest buck. I pounced flying through the air onto its back, and my teeth sliced into its neck. The flavor tasted wrong but still it tamed my burning throat. When the deer ran dry, I felt guilty for killing it but I pushed the guilt aside. At least it wasn't a human. Rosalie, Alice, and I hunted until I was satiated, and started walking back a bit faster than human speed. Alice ran ahead, leaving me and Rosalie walking together.

"Rosalie?" I asked.

Rosalie looked up and grinned lightly. "Call me Rose."

I smiled. "Rose, does the burning ever get better?"

She seemed to think carefully. "The first year of this life is the worst when it comes to thirst. So most newborns are completely bloodthirsty." Rose spotted the worry on my face. "But you're not like most newborns. You are calm and can even control your thirst," she laughed her wind chime laugh. "I'm jealous." My face fell.

"Yeah, being me is the greatest," I murmured sarcastically.

Rose wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "Bella, I understand more than most what your going through."

I stopped walking and looked at Rose. "What do you mean you ' **understand** '?"

Rose sighed and sat down on a fallen log. "Bella, do you want to know what led to all this?" she asked, motioning to herself.

I sat down next to her and nodded a yes, "If that will help me understand."

I waited while she stared off at nothing. She seemed to be trying to calm herself. "My story doesn't have a happy ending — but which of ours does? If we had happy endings, we'd all be under gravestones now." I suppressed a grin; Rose's brutal honesty was refreshing. "I lived in a different world than you did, Bella. My human world was a much simpler place. It was nineteen thirty-three. I was eighteen, and I was beautiful. My life was perfect." She smiled at the memory. "My father had a stable job and my mother kept the house. We were thoroughly middle class, but my parents always wanted more. They had social aspirations — social climbers, I suppose you could call them. My beauty was like a gift to them. They saw so much more potential in it than I did." Rose looked at me meaningfully. "I knew what I wanted out of life, and there didn't seem to be any way that I wouldn't get exactly what I wanted. I wanted to be loved, to be adored. I wanted to have a huge, flowery wedding, where everyone in town would watch me walk down the aisle on my father's arm and think I was the most beautiful thing they'd ever seen. Admiration was like air to me, Bella. I was silly and shallow, but I was content." She smiled, amused at her own evaluation. "There were a few things I wanted that were more meaningful. One thing in particular. I yearned for my own little baby. I wanted my own house and a husband who would kiss me when he got home from work." Rosalie sighed, and when she spoke again her voice was different, the wistfulness gone. "In Rochester, there was one royal family — the Kings, ironically enough. Royce King owned the bank my father worked at, and nearly every other really profitable business in town. That's how his son, Royce King the Second" — her mouth twisted around the name, it came out through her teeth — "saw me the first time. He was going to take over at the bank, and so he began overseeing the different positions. Two days later, my mother conveniently forgot to send my father's lunch to work with him. I remember being confused when she insisted that I wear my white organza and roll my hair up just to run over to the bank."

Rosalie laughed without humor. "I didn't notice Royce watching me particularly. Everyone watched me. But that night the first of the roses came. My parents approved — that's putting it mildly. This was everything they'd dreamed of. And Royce seemed to be everything I'd dreamed of. The fairy tale prince, come to make me a princess. Everything I wanted, yet it was still no more than I expected. We were engaged before I'd known him for two months." Rosalie broke off suddenly, clenching her teeth together. It pulled me out of her story, and I realized that the horror was not far off. There would be no happy ending, as she'd promised. I felt so much sympathy for her — because she'd been within reach of everything she'd wanted when her human life was cut short. But as she spoke, her story kept nagging at that confused part of my memory. What was I missing that seemed to fit with her story? "I was walking home from Vera's that night," Rosalie whispered. Her face was smooth as marble, and as hard. "It was dark in the streets, the lamps already on. I hadn't realized how late it was," she continued to whisper almost inaudibly. "I heard a clamor of drunken men under the streetlight. I hurried to move past, when I heard Royce call my name. I stopped and he came and pulled me over. _"This is my Rose, isn't she lovely?"_ He boasted to his friends, as they looked me up and down. _"Its hard to tell,"_ his friends told him. _"She's all covered up."_ With that, Royce pulled my hat from my head, ripping the pins out as he did. I screamed in pain, they seemed to like that — the sound of my pain." Rosalie broke off and looked up at the moon. I reached out and grabbed her hand, to try and comfort her. Rosalie didn't look at me but she clutched my hand before she continued. "They beat me, raped me, and left me in the street to die. Carlisle smelled the blood and found me. He tried his best to save my life, but in the end he carried me back to his home and changed me." A dark smile formed on her lips, and I mentally flinched. "I got my revenge on them though. One by one I hunted them down. I saved Royce for last. I hoped he would hear of his friends' deaths and know what was coming for him. It worked because when I found him he was hiding in a bank vault with armed guards." Rosalie chuckled darkly. "I was a little over theatrical; I dressed in a wedding dress I stole specifically for the occasion." The smile grew infinitesimally. "I was careful not to spill any of their blood. I didn't want to lose control and give them an easy end. It made it easier to make it longer, to draw out the pain…" The smile vanished as Rose gazed into the night sky. Finally she turned to me. "It does get easier over time Bella. But if you ever need to talk don't hesitate to come to me. I'll never judge you, and I already see you as a sister."

A grin developed on my face "Thank you Rose — for everything." We got up and start running back to the house.


	7. Chapter 6: Remembered

**Chapter 6: Remembered**

 **Bella POV**

As we ran back, I thought over the story that Rosalie had told me. It was hard for me to comprehend the world that she had lived in but we were also so similar. We both had gone through something no one should ever have to go through. She was lucky, in one way though. At least her torment only lasted one night, while mine had gone on and on for years before I finally took my escape. I felt ashamed for my decision though. True, death seemed like a good alternative, but maybe there had been others. Still, what's done is done and it couldn't be undone. I would have to just help myself move on and forget. Rose and I caught up with Alice who was waiting for us in small, rectangular clearing while she sat on a rock and looked up at the stars. Rose and I sat beside her as we were in no real hurry to return to the house, prolonging our sisterly bonding time. And yes I said sisters, for these two women, so different yet so similar had become the one thing I had wanted in life, my sisters, my family just as the others were. As I sat down on the rocks I finally took notice of what I was wearing, and a shocked laugh escaped my lips.

"What?" Rosalie asked me.

"Are we having a cocktail party later?" I asked gesturing to my dress. It was ice blue satin with a tight bodice in a sweetheart neckline and a sheer overskirt that reached my ankles. My feet were bare beneath the skirt but I noticed a small gold anklet secured to my right ankle. Rose laughed along with me.

"The pixie dressed you; I had nothing to do with it. But I will admit to be surprised to see that the dressed survived the hunt intact. Most newborns end up wearing rags very quickly," Rose smiled as she spoke.

I laughed along with her while Alice sent us a mock glare. "It looks good on you," was all she said.

"I guess you'll be using me as a giant dress up doll, huh, Alice," I said with a giggle, and saw the smile on her face, which told me I was right. I knew there was no way to fight, and I didn't really want to anyways, so I just gave in, but with a condition. "Fine, but no make-up."

"We don't use it much anyway since we don't really need it. Only lipstick, gloss and sometimes blush to make us look more human," Rose told me. "Alice over there loves to use all kinds of make-up, but I usually only wear lipstick and maybe some eye shadow or something depending on what I'm doing."

I nodded. "I think I will be fine with doing that, too. But take it slowly. Make-up with me always had a bad connotation." I saw the looks of confusion on their faces, but I couldn't really understand why I said that. "I – I'm not sure why I said that though I know it to be true."

"Your confused memories?" Alice asked me.

I nodded. "When will I get them back?" I wondered.

Rose wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "It will take a bit of time. Could be a few hours or a few days, but eventually your confused memories will sort themselves out. Stay calm, and remember that your mind is trying to block something that you don't really want to deal with right now. The first few days of this life are often traumatic and confusing and you don't really need another piece of trauma dumped on you right away."

"You'll get them soon, I can see that," Alice told us as her gaze went far away. "I can see something will trigger them, but I'm not sure what exactly or what the memory will be. Be prepared though. When they return, you'll find yourself overwhelmed by them, I can see that much at least."

"Recollected confused memories tend to be that way. But just remember to keep calm, and that you have a family here to help you through everything." Rose gave me a one-armed hug as they reassured me. I sighed and nodded. I didn't like being so confused.

It was then that the wind shifted, blowing at us from the south, southwest, and bring in with it, a very potent scent that set my throat on fire though I'd just fed. I didn't stop to think, hurtling out of the trees in a path racing after a new fragrance so attractive that there wasn't a choice. It was compulsory. The scent ruled completely. I was single-minded as I traced it, aware only of the thirst and the smell that promised to quench it. The thirst got worse, so painful now that it confused all my other thoughts and began to remind me of the burn of venom in my veins. There was only one thing that had any chance of penetrating my focus now, an instinct more powerful, more basic than the need to quench the fire – it was the instinct to protect myself from danger. Self-preservation. I was suddenly alert to the fact that I was being followed. The pull of the irresistible scent warred with the impulse to turn and defend my hunt. A bubble of sound built in my chest, my lips pulled back of their own accord to expose my teeth in warning. My feet slowed, the need to protect my back struggling against the desire to quench my thirst. And then I could hear my pursuer gaining, and defense won. As I spun, the rising sound ripped its way up my throat and out. The feral snarl, coming from my own mouth, was so unexpected that it brought me up short. It unsettled me, and it cleared my head for a second – the thirst-driven haze receded, though the thirst burned on. The wind shifted, blowing the smell of wet earth and coming rain across my face, further freeing me from the other scent's fiery grip – a scent so delicious it could only be human.

Alice and Rose hesitated a few feet away, their arms raised as if to embrace me – or restrain me. Rose's face was intent and cautious as I froze, horrified. Alice seemed to be expectant. I realized that I had been about to attack them. With a hard jerk, I straightened out of my defensive crouch. I held my breath as I refocused, fearing the power of the fragrance swirling up from the south. They could see reason return to my face, and took a step toward me, lowering their arms. "I have to get away from here," I spit through my teeth, using the breath I had.

Shock crossed Rose's face, though Alice smiled a brilliant smile that told me she'd seen this. " _ **Can**_ you leave?" Rose questioned me. I didn't have time to ask her what she meant by that. I knew the ability to think clearly would last only as long as I could stop myself from thinking of – I burst into a run again, a flat-out sprint straight north, concentrating solely on the uncomfortable feeling of sensory deprivation that seemed to be my body's only response to the lack of air. My one goal was to run far enough away that the scent behind me would be completely lost. Impossible to find, even if I changed my mind... Once again, I was aware of being followed, but I was sane this time. I fought the instinct to breathe – to use the flavors in the air to be sure it was my sisters. I didn't have to fight long; though I was running faster than I ever had before, shooting like a comet through the straightest path I could find in the trees; I could feel the girls falling a little behind which shocked me a bit. A new thought occurred to me, and I stopped dead, my feet planted. I was sure it must be safe here, but I heldmy breath just in case. Rose blew past me, surprised by my sudden freeze, but Alice stopped right beside me. Rose wheeled around and was at my side in a second. She put her hands on my shoulders and stared into my eyes, shock still the dominant emotion on her face, while Alice held my hand and was jumping up and down. "How did you do that?" she demanded.

I was confused by her question.When I opened my mouth, I could taste the air – it was unpolluted now, with no trace of the compelling perfume to torment my thirst. I took a cautious breath. "Run away? I held my breath."

"But how did you stop hunting?"

"When you two came up behind me... I'm so sorry about that."

"Why are you apologizing to us? We're the one who were horribly careless. I assumed no one would be so far from the trails, but I should have checked first before we sat down to relax. You're a newborn, we have to make sure there's nothing around that could tempt you, and we didn't do that. Such a stupid mistake! _**You**_ have nothing to apologize for."

"But I growled at you two!" I was still horrified by that. How could I think about doing something like that to my sisters? I'd even been thinking of hurting them, when they'd done so much for me in such a short time.

"Of course you did. That's only natural. But I can't understand how you ran away."

"What else could I do?" I asked. Rose's attitude confused me – what did she _**want**_ to have happened? "I don't want to be monster like they were!" I told her. She startled me, suddenly bursting into a spasm of loud laughter, throwing her head back and letting the sound echo off the trees. "Why are you laughing at me?" Alice joined in but she seemed awfully quiet about this. The glimmer in her eyes told me she'd seen what would happen. They stopped at once, and I could see they were wary again. _**Keep it under control,**_ I thought to myself. I had to watch my temper. I could really hurt someone if I didn't, and I didn't want to be like Charlie and Phil.

"We're not laughing at you, Bella.We're laughing because we're in shock. And we're in shock because we're completely amazed."

"Why?"

"You shouldn't be able to do any of this. You shouldn't be so... so rational. You shouldn't be able to stand here discussing this with me calmly and coolly. And, much more than any of that, you should _**not**_ have been able to break off mid-hunt with the scent of human blood in the air. Even mature vampires have difficulty with that – we're always very careful of where we hunt so as not to put ourselves in the path of temptation. Bella, you're behaving like you're decades rather than hours old," Rose told me.

"Oh." But I'd known it was going to be hard. That was why I'd been so on guard. I'd been expecting it to be difficult. "You're awfully quiet about this Alice," I said, turning my gaze to the bouncing pixie vampire.

"I'm quiet because I knew this would happen," was all she said.

Rose turned on her then. "You knew and didn't say anything. Something bad could have happened."

"Relax, Rose. Nothing was gonna happen, I could see that. Bella is very strong. He control is similar to Carlisle's, but she needed to be shown that. She needed to be shown that she could stop herself and take control of her instincts when it counted. And if you think about it, you'll know why I did it."

Rose nodded in understanding. "Andrew, Penelope, Ayden, and Kayla."

"Exactly."

I was confused, "Who are they?"

Rose looked at me for a moment before taking my hand and leading me to an outcropping of rocks where we sat down. "There have been things that we have not yet told you about our family, Bella. We didn't intend to keep you in the dark, but we needed to make certain that you'd be stable before we exposed them." I nodded in understanding. "You remember when we first moved here, right?"

"You guys came from Alaska, right?"

"Yes. We'd been living near Juno, Alaska for some time and it was time to move on. Since we don't age, we can't stay in one place for very long without drawing suspicion. And will more than likely be moving from this area again soon anyway. We were all tired of Alaska and decided to return to this area for a while. Before we did though we went to visit our cousins in Denali, Alaska. The Denali family is the only other vegetarian family we've ever found and have always been like extended family to us. There are five of them, the sisters Tanya, Kate, and Irina, and mates Carmen and Eleazar. Alice, Esme, our 4 female cousins and I headed to Anchorage for a day of beauty while Emmett and Jasper went to a monster truck rally in town. Carlisle and Edward went hunting and Eleazar joined them. They were to be gone three days. Carlisle and Edward had been exited about that trip because it was a time for them to bond again and spend some time together, like they used to before the rest of us joined them. Edward was the first child Carlisle had created as his companion and they have always been close. Their relationship, however, has changed over time since Esme and the rest of us joined them. Edward's no longer an only child and so our parents attention is divided between all of us. Also Edward is the only one of us, besides you, who has no mate and so is usually the one that's left out. Don't get me wrong Bella, we never try to leave him out of anything, he's our brother after all, but…"

"He's still the sole 7th wheel in a house full of mated pairs," I finished for her.

Alice nodded, "We always try to include him, but there are just some things he cannot be a part of, which happen between mated pairs. Anyway, the boys were exited to spend time together and after we said our goodbye we all went our separate ways." It was then that Alice's face fell. "I saw nothing amiss with their trip. But they came home early. They'd been attacked as they were hunting. It was awful. They were ambushed, knocked unconscious and taken captive. Their arms and legs were ripped off so they could be kept compliant. None of them will really talk about the details but we know that when they were attacked their attackers forcefully took sperm samples from all of them. It's painful because that is the one area where we, both males and females, are vulnerable. We informed the Volturi of the attack and learned that there had been other attacks as well and that they were already looking into it. We came here and were always on alert, fearful of another ambush. Time passed though, and it wasn't until a bit over a year ago that we finally got the answer as to what was really going on. Aro of the Volturi came to speak with us. When Carlisle told us that he was coming in person, we knew it would be bad." Alice paused for a moment and Rose continued the story.

"We used Skype to contact our cousins in Denali so that we could all hear. Aro told us that the Romanians, the ones who'd attacked the boys last year, had been gathering sperm samples from males across the globe. They were testing out the possibility that male vampires could have children so long as their partner was human. We female vampires are sterile, but males are still able to make babies. The Volturi had already known of this though we did not. When the Volturi found the Romanians' stronghold they learned that most of the babies and mothers had died, but were able to recover 7 babies and knew of 8 more along with the sole surviving mother. Those 8 babies, along with their mother had disappeared with the help of a female vampire who the Volturi believe to have been her caretaker. The other mothers died in childbirth, and the Volturi came here to see us so we could decide what to do with the little ones since they belonged to Carlisle and Eleazar. Vladimir and Stephan of the Romanians also fathered the other survivors. But Bella, the 8 infants that still had their mother were the ones that belonged to Edward. No one knows what happened to them after they left the stronghold. Edward was crushed by their disappearance. We've tried everything we could to find them but have not succeeded. I hear him cry about it when he thinks no one can hear him. We've tried to comfort him, to keep his hope alive, but it's slowly fading. He wants them, but we don't know where they are. We chose to adopt the babies that the Volturi had with them, much to Aro's relief. Andrew Dale and Penelope Rose are my son and daughter. They were fathered by Stephan, but you'd think Emmett and I are their biological parents since they look so much like Emmett and have my old human eyes. Ayden Alexander and Kayla Celeste are Carlisle's twins. The other three babies, Eleazar's twin boys and Vladimir's little girl are in Denali with our cousins. They're a year old. We asked our cousins to keep them for a few days so we could make sure that you were stable before we introduced them to you. They have blood in their veins and heartbeats, but they don't smell at all like food, still, we thought it would be for the best knowing well how unpredictable newborns could be."

As I heard Rose's story, I froze. _**Edward is a father, but he did not know where his 8 children were…8…children**_ All of a sudden I was sucked into the memories that had been nagging at me. I barely hear Rose and Alice as they spoke.

 **Alice POV**

This was what I was waiting for, why I procrastinated returning home after the hunt. "Bella, are you alright sweetie?" Rose asked as she took her arm and shook her but Bella was unresponsive.

"She's remembering," I told her. Rose looked at me. "I'd seen that this conversation would trigger whatever memory the transformation had buried. I don't know what it is, I didn't see that, but I did see that her reaction would be far worse if we'd had this conversation at home surrounded by the rest of the family. She would have hurt herself or one of us. I thought it best if it was just us females with her when the memory was triggered." I looked up into the tree line and called out. "Mom, you can come out now," I told my mother. Esme walked into the clearing and promptly sat down beside Bella and took her into her arms, holding her in much the same way as she had always done with Edward when he was upset or in pain. "I called Esme while you two were taking, and asked her to come with us but to stay hidden and not to interfere until I called her out of hiding. What happened earlier with the human scent needed to happen, but if Esme had been there it may not have turned as it did. Bella's strong, but I didn't want to chance a different outcome than the one we got." We sat there as Bella lay frozen in our mother's arms for a few more minutes before she started to tremble and whimper. All of a sudden Esme jerked her head up as she felt something on her shirt. I nodded at her. "Her earlier memories weren't strong enough to trigger it because something was missing. Bella is the only vampire in the world who can cry real tears, not dry sobs. My guess is that it's because she cried so much even up to the point of her death that this happened. Now that she's started to cry we can pull her back."

"We should call Carlisle," Esme suggested.

I shook my head, "No. I see her telling us of her memories, but if Carlisle or any of the boys are here, she'll have a bad reaction. Before she took things too coolly because she was suppressing a part of what happened to her. I can't see what she'll say but we know men have hurt her, its best if it's just us and if she's here in the middle of the woods where she won't feel confined," I explained. Esme and Rose nodded, and Rose and I reached out to rub Bella's back and arms while our mother spoke soothing words to her coxing her gently out of her memories.

 **Bella POV**

I could hear the girls talking and knew Esme had joined us, but I was only aware of this with the lesser part of my mind. Most of my mind was trapped in the memories that had been hounding me since I awoke but I never could quite reach, buried as they were in confusion by my transformation. I remember every single hit and assault Phil made me endure. I remembered him selling me of like a prostitute, and remember every single man and how they'd hurt me. I remembered begging my mother for help and how she wouldn't even listen to me and the beating I endured for my one and only attempt to get free. I remembered as I came home to find the Mercedes parked in the driveway and knew I would be sold once more and would have to endure the men for a long time because my mother would be gone for months getting my inheritance from my grandparents. I remembered as Vladimir and Stephan bought me and took me with them to Romania. I remembered as I was made to become pregnant artificially but never once was harmed. I remembered Zelya and how kind and caring she'd been towards me, helping me in any way I needed. I remembered how kind Vladimir and Stephan were to me, and how happy I had been for those 7 months because they had been 7 months without pain for me. I remembered my newborn babies and then meeting my adopted elder children. I remembered our wild escape from the castle when the Volturi were coming and how Zelya came with me when I had to go home and helped me care for and hide my babies. I remembered Phil's last abuse and how much he'd hurt me. I remembered begging my mother to let me go live with Charlie because I could take no more. I remembered Zelya and the children moving with me and Zelya finding that house in between Port Angeles and Forks. I remembered how things were before Charlie started hurting me. I remembered coming to school and meeting the Cullens and how hard I had fallen for Edward, to the point of an obsession though he never paid attention and I knew I wasn't worthy of him anyway. I remembered when Charlie started hurting me and how it escalated and how much my babies and Zelya had wanted to help me but couldn't because Zelya was fearful of doing anything that might allow the Volturi to track us down. I remembered Zelya's promise to change me into a vampire before my 18th birthday and how she would remain with us only until I was stable since she feared that the Volturi were tracking her and she didn't want to put us in danger and understood then that I had had another choice beyond suicide. I remembered Charlie's assault and my decision to end it all, and started to cry.

Some mother I was, abandoning my children in a selfish attempt to take my own life when they needed me so much. I felt Esme holding me and the girls rubbing my back and arms, but couldn't pay much attention to their comfort. I didn't deserve it. I was so horrible and now I had no idea what would happen to my children. Slowly as I let the misery and regret take me I felt myself returning back to the outside world. I could hear the soothing voice of my new mother gently coaxing me to come back out of my mind. "Whatever it is that's happened to you, we're here to help you, Bella. We'll help you through this," I heard Esme whisper in my ear.

Slowly I lifted my head from her shoulder and looked into her golden eyes, "I'm a bad person," was all I said.

Esme unwrapped her arms from around me, and for a split second I was so afraid she would agree, but then she took my face in her hands and looked directly into her eyes. "No you are not," Esme said firmly. "Nothing that happened to you is your fault."

"I could have fought, but I just let it happen."

"If you had fought, it would have only been worse, Bella," Rose said as she ran her fingers through my hair. "If you'd fought you probably would have been killed."

"I left them," I said.

"Left who, Bella? What did you remember?" Alice asked.

"My babies."

"What babies, sweetheart?" Esme asked. I could tell she was startled by my answer.

I looked up into her eyes. "I know what happened in Romania. I know where the missing babies are."

I saw all of their eyes widen. "How can you know this Bella?" Rose asked.

"Because I'm the only mother to survive."


	8. Chapter 7: Reunion

_Hello Everyone. As promised here's the next chapter of the story. So sorry for the prolonged wait but as I had posted in the author's note I had serious problems with posting. It has taken me so long, 10 times longer than I thought it would and for those that didn't read my author's note before I deleted it to replace it with the chapter, I've had many problems with all three stories I'm currently working on. Unfortunately my computer died on me and my pendrive, where all the stories were written, broke so I lost all of my information and it couldn't be retrieved. I got a new laptop since my other was still in warranty but most of the memory of the old one was corrupted so it was not retrievable, therefore I lost all I had written on the stories. I got lucky that I still had some online and one of my friends had the whole 'A Love Like No Other' but everything else was lost so I've had to rewrite the chapter all over again. So here are, at long last the next installment of the stories. And I hope to have more done soon but the stories are evolving as I write them. Please remember that my poll for the reunion of Bella and Edward in Heart By Heart is still open and I really would like to know opinions. It'll close soon so please let me know what you think._

 _See you all soon._

 _Sailor FoxFire_

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Reunion**

 **Bella POV**

I looked at the three of them and began to tell them my story. I felt as if I were purging myself this time, unlike last time. "You remember what I told you back at the house. But there was a part I left out because I couldn't remember it. About a year after Phil started hurting me, his abuse became worse. He began to sell me off like a prostitute. First to his friends, then to anyone who wanted me as well as abusing and raping me himself. The men who bought me did whatever they wanted with me and gladly assisted Phil in abusing me." I was trembling as I spoke and felt Esme's arms wrap tightly around me, helping me to hold myself together as Rose and Alice moved in closer and rubbed my back and arms soothingly. "The doctor that treated me when Phil put me in that coma was one of the friends who often bought me. He enjoyed doing some medical procedures on me while he raped and abused me. I do not know if he hurt me while I was under his care and unconscious but I do know that he hid all evidence of my abuse. The hospital had been my one hope to find help, but after that I had none. I let it happen. I did anything and everything I could think of to avoid the abuse, I was even an Honor Roll student, the top of my class and one of the top in the county just to avoid being hit, but Phil would hurt me regardless. 7 ½ months before I moved here, my maternal grandparents died. They had disowned my mother when she married Charlie and had me, and I never got to meet them. But when they died they had left everything to me, not my mother. 345.3 million dollars is what they left me. Their will stipulated that only when I turned 18 would I get the inheritance and no one not even my mother would be able to touch a dime until I took everything. They did it on purpose, they knew that Renée would squander it all way since she was so flighty and childlike and I would never see a dime if she got a hold of it. They also did it to prevent any man my mother had a relationship with from touching one cent of what was mine. Renée was trilled with this since it meant I would be set for life, and quickly left for Napa, California to settle the estate since I was only 15 and she was my legal guardian. Phil, however, was pissed by this outcome and his abuse of me became far worse. The day my mother left I dreaded going home from school because I knew what would be waiting for me. I contemplated running, but I had tried it once and well, let's just say it didn't help in the slightest." I started gasping for air I didn't need and wiped at my eyes. When my hand came away from my face I felt that it was wet. "What?"

Alice answered while rubbing my eyes. "You're the only vampire in the world able to cry. You're earlier memories weren't strong enough to trigger it because part was missing. It's a good thing Bella. We all wish we could cry, could have the release of tears."

I sniffed and smiled slightly, at least I could do this. "When I came home there was a black Mercedes in the driveway. I knew what it meant. Phil had lined up an expensive buyer for me, and those were usually the worst because they would buy me for longer periods of time. I wanted to run, but I knew it was useless and so I went into the house and faced my doom. There were two strange men sitting on the couch in the living room with Phil. He forced me to my knees in front of them with my head bent so the buyers could examine me, which they did. One lifted my face to examine it and I felt how cold and stone line his touch was, like shale rock. They were pale white and had a very papery look to their skin, like it was brittle and burgundy eyes. Vladimir and Stephan. They bought me from Phil for a month with the promise that I would be allowed to phone my mother regularly so that she wouldn't suspect. He made it sound like my mother was aware of what was done to me and only didn't agree with me being out of the house more than 1 night, which wasn't true. Phil dragged me upstairs and made me change into the clothes the men had brought for me and do my make-up. He always made me wear whatever the clients chose for me and put on make-up, which is why I hate it so much. He made me pack my toiletry bag and the new make-up bag Renée'd given me before dragging me back downstairs after giving me his marching orders. He handed me a cell phone. _Here's the cell phone. It's a clone of mine so I will know of any and all calls you make with it. Use it only to call your mother. I mean it Bella, if I see even one strange call, you are in for it, you hear? And not a word of this to her because I will be listening, got that?"_ Phil shouted at me. Meekly, I nodded, too afraid to disobey. _"The school's been informed that you will be going with your mother so they will be sending you your homework for as long as you're gone through the online schooling option which I have transferred you to. Make sure you do not miss one assignment or you will pay dearly, understood?"_ Downstairs, the light haired man took me from his hands and led me to the Mercedes with his companion. They would keep me for longer than a month as things developed and depending on my mother's schedule. It was twilight, the very time of day all of Phil's clients took me away. It used to be my favorite time of the day when I was little. When mom would be home from work and would take me into her arms and give me a hug, and we'd sit in her chair and she would tell me all sorts of stories from all over the world, just as her mother had done for her. Now though, it only meant pain, pain and more pain for me. I wondered if this day of darkness would never end."

I gave them a sad smile and shook my head. "It turned out that being bought for so long was the best thing that had happened to me in a long time. For the 6 ½ months I spent with them in Romania, I was never harmed, beaten or raped, but was treated with kindness and respect. It's true that I had been bought to be a brood mare, but it was a 1,000 times better than I had ever experienced. I became pregnant very quickly which pleased them greatly and so I was even better cared for. There was a woman name Zelya Romanshofka who was the one taking care of me and was my companion. She taught me many different things, helped me finish school online and helped me with the technical program Phil had convinced my mother to allow me to take the remainder of my semester since I had finished so early to keep up appearances. I was suspicious of what they were but never questioned it, though Zelya knew of my suspicions. My pregnancy was strange, which only added to my suspicions. It lasted 5 months and 3 days. On June 20th my eightuplets were born via C-Section, and they were the most beautiful babies I'd ever seen. 5 girls and 3 boys. I believed that most of them resembled their father, whoever he was. Zelya rubbed a clear liquid over my incision and it healed completely and left no scar behind. I later learned it was venom that she had used, and that a small amount can heal a human without hurting or changing them. Two days after the birth Zelya let me go to the library since I was well enough and there I met 7 more children who weresitting on one of the couches. 2 kids, a boy and girl, looked to be between 5 and 7, and other boy and girl looked to be between 4 and 5 and the last 3, two boys and a girl were toddlers. However, they were sitting on the couch reading the books, which I saw to be classic literature and not picture books. I recognized all of the books and had even read them in my time there; Secret Garden, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Robinson Crusoe, The Iliad, Scarlet Letter, Treasure Island, and The Complete Works of Jane Austen. And I knew they were reading them because they were reading out loud. Amazed, I looked at Zelya, who smiled at me a little sheepishly and took my hand. _"I know that you know what we are, I know that you've figured it out, and it's alright. I wanted you to figure it out, and I will tell you now that you are right, we are what you think we are, and you are right that we will not harm you."_

I shook my head. "It was true. I had figured out a while ago that they were vampires, but they had never harmed me and so they didn't frighten me. Humans had many, many, many times, but they had never hurt me or made me be afraid of them so there was no reason for me to fear them. She pointed at the children. _"They are different too. The youngest looking ones are just like your babies. The two oldest ones are what I am. They only look young, but their physical appearance is deceiving, they are actually much older that what they appear to be. The oldest ones will always look as they do now as they have for who knows how long."_ She introduced us and I learned all their backgrounds. And that the two Immortal Children had been with the Volturi before and had been allowed to live, despite the ban on their creation because they had perfect self-control, they were even vegetarian as humans are mildly repulsive to them. It took me all of 5 minutes to fall in love with them and adopt them as my own. They were orphans, they had no one else." I shook my head. "A few days later, Zelya rushed into my room in the middle of the night and awoke me. She told me we had to leave and gathered everything up and took us away from the castle. She later explained that the Volturi were coming and she was sure we would not make it if we were found. We returned to Arizona though I didn't want to. Zelya was aware of my background and knew I didn't want to go back but she feared that if we didn't keep up appearances, the Volturi would find us. She got a house near my home and kept the children with her. After Phil's last abuse and I decide to come here, she came with me and got a house in between Port Angeles and Forks where she and the children are hiding out. Zelya even promised me that she would change me a little before my 18th birthday and stay with us until I could be on my own. She's paranoid thinking that the Volturi are after her and fears leading them to us." I started to cry harder. "That's why I'm a bad person. I left them, my babies, and they needed me. I took the easy way out without even thinking about them and what it would do to them to loose me, their mother, when they needed me." I cried harder.

Esme held me tightly to her as Rose and Alice also embraced me. "You're not bad Bella. You were in pain, and not thinking clearly. You were scared and confused and at the time didn't know what else to do," Esme tried to soothe me.

"I had another choice. I could have gone to Zelya and had her change me. We could have faked my death and disappeared."

"But Bella, that's exactly what ended up happening anyway," Alice tried to soothe me. "With one advantage. Zelya would have left you and you and the babies would have been all alone, but now you have a family to take care of you and help you. We're here Bella."

"I don't even know if they're still here. If Zelya believes I'm dead she would have taken them and left, or maybe left them alone I don't know."

Esme stood up and helped me to my feet. "The only way to know is to go find them, Bella. It's possible she's not heard given that she does not live in town. Let's go get them sweetie."

I smiled a small half smile, but there was something I had to say. "If you guys don't want me here I can leave. I know I'm putting a lot on you plates…"

Esme cut me of. "You belong with us. Since the day Carlisle met you he felt as if you were meant to be near us. When you were dying in front of him, Carlisle couldn't do anything else except save you. He may not be sure why, but I always knew." She took my face in her hands, "You were our baby, our daughter. Always meant to be with us. And before you even think it, the babies have nothing to do with it. It's who you were meant to be. We were meant to give you the family you'd never had, and you were meant to complete our family. You were always to be my 8th child, just as your siblings were meant to be here with us." She pulled me into her arms and I could do nothing but to hug her back tightly. She was my mother, my real mother, the one thing Renée in all her childish ways had never been. "Let's go find you kids," Esme after she'd held me for a while. "I want to see my grandchildren." We smiled at each other. With that Rose, Esme, Alice and I took of into the woods.

"Where to Bella?" Rose asked me a few minutes later when we had reached the main highway, though we were still hidden in the tree line.

I thought for a moment. "I can't remember the way completely, but I remember driving down the 110 to Lake Crescent and that the house is actually right near the lake. It's the only one there," I told them.

Esme nodded, "I know the place. I heard the local men complaining a while ago because it had been a favored fishing spot. The house had sat vacant for decades and the caretaker let them men in town use the docks to fish. After the house was bought they weren't allowed back there again."

"I remember that. Charlie loved to fish and it pissed him off because it was a favored place. Zelya wanted privacy to prevent the children and herself from being seen and so she stopped allowing anyone in there. She even hid the dirt road that led to the house with natural foliage, though I don't know how. I can't remember where it is though."

"I do. There are quite a bit of bears that hang around the property to fish. It's one of Emmett's favorite spots to hunt when he wants to stay nearby," Rose told us before leading the way down the 110 and to the area we were looking for. "The road's got to be somewhere around here," she said as we got to the place where the road was, but there was a lot of foliage and even we could not spot it.

I looked around. "Charlie gave me an old truck as a homecoming present. I would come here after school and stay for a while, and then return at night after Charlie was asleep. I usually slept here, and Zelya would carry me back to Charlie's house and tuck me in bed at dawn before Charlie awoke so he wouldn't suspect. When we didn't have school, I would be here. If I could have managed to keep Charlie from finding out, I would have transferred to an online schooling option and spent my time here. I know that the foliage only covered the first few feet of the entrance of the road, and that after that it was completely clear. I used to walk through the plants and go up the path to the house." I saw the tire tracks in the grass. "I would park here," I told them, pointing out the tire tracks. "It's a covered place and the truck wouldn't be seen from the road unless you came into this portion of the path. I'm not sure which way I used to walk to, to get to the path but it's close by." We split up to look starting from the tire tracks and working our way around the clearing. A few minutes later I heard something moving in the trees. All our ears perked up. I heard the snap of a branch and knew something was coming. Before I could get any further down that tangent of thought, a force knocked me to the ground.

" **BELLA!** " Esme, Alice and Rose cried.

I just laughed, and kissed the little head laying on my chest. "Hi Baby."

" **MOMMY!** " I heard Achilles scream as he held me tighter. Within the blink of an eye, 6 other children were clamped onto my body and screaming mommy, and other things I could not make out. I saw over their little figures, Esme Alice and Rose standing nearby smiling.

"Alright, alright, calm down loves. I'm here, it's alright," I said as I rubbed my hands down their little bodies. They stopped screaming and crying but would not release me. I had a feeling it would be a while before they would. "What are you doing out here? You know you're not supposed to come out the road for any reason, babies."

Cameron released me enough to allow him to get on his knees before he grabbed onto my hand tightly. It was clear that they knew what I now was and that they no longer needed to watch their strength with me and all of them were taking advantage of that by holding me as tightly as they could. I had babies clamped to pretty much every body part they could reach. "We smelled you," he told me. "And heard you talking and came to find you. Why Mommy?"

I knew what he was asking and that he was asking for all of them. Why did I try to kill myself? Why did I try to leave them behind? And I had no real answer for them. But I had to give them something. "Charlie really hurt me, just like Phil used to do. I guess I was just so tired of being hurt I could take no more. I'm sorry babies, I wasn't even really thinking at the time." As I spoke I knew that what I was telling them was the absolute truth, that that had been my reason. The children, particularly the older ones, knew what I had been going through, at least to some extent. Cameron and Caitlyn, I knew, knew it all; they weren't really children after all, only looked that way. I could see the understanding in their eyes as we sat up and looked at each other. They understood how hurt I'd been, and I understood I'd hurt them. But thanks to Carlisle I hadn't left them. I was still here with them as I would be forever now. And there it was, the silver lining through all of my nightmares, pain, and suffering. No matter how much I was hurt, I was still with the only things I had that were worth living for and I would be with them forever. No matter what the world threw at me, as long as I had them, I would deal. So why was I only figuring this out now, now that I was practically indestructible?

"Mommy, who are they?" Lestat asked me fearfully clinging tighter to my body as he noticed that we had some company.

I had to admit that I'd almost forgotten that I had brought company with me. I laughed to show them it was alright as I could plainly tell they were frightened of the strangers. "It's alright, loves. They're with me. They won't hurt you. Let me up, okay, guys?" I told them. I could see them debate for a moment before they let me go long enough for me to stand up, before clamping onto me again. I didn't mind, I'd missed them. "These are Esme, Alice, and Rosalie Cullen. They helped mommy," I told them pointing each one out. Alice was bouncing up and down and Rose looked like she was restraining herself from doing the same and Esme had the biggest grin on her face, it was so big I was afraid her face might crack.

"Cullen?" Caitlyn asked. "As in Aro's friend Dr. Carlisle Cullen?"

"Yes," Esme spoke up, taking a step towards us as soon as she saw my assent. "I'm his wife, Esme, and these are our daughters. Carlisle was the one that found your mommy and saved her."

"We know," Akasha said.

"You do?" I asked.

The kids nodded. "EJ woke up and told us what had happened to you mommy. We've been waiting for you to come get us," Briseis said.

"Hold it, hold it. EJ told you? What do you mean? EJ's only a baby, he can't talk."

Cameron smiled as they pulled me in the direction of the house. "Zelya told us that it would be best not to tell you just yet. She was afraid it may freak you out. Remember when she told you about vampires and how some of us have powers beyond the vampire norm?" I nodded as we walked through the bushes and found the path, Esme, Rose and Alice following behind. "Well, hybrids can have powers too. We all do as a matter of fact. EJ can read minds and he heard your thoughts and alerted us to what was happening because he can also communicate telepathically. Zelya ran to get you intending to change you and save you, but by the time she reached you she saw another vampire stealing you out of the hospital. He had a white doctor's coat and had you wrapped in a blanket like a baby. She heard your heart and knew that he'd changed you. She followed him intending to take you from him, but he was much faster than her and reached a large white house before she could get to him. There were other vampires inside and she would have been too outnumbered in the fight so she couldn't get to you. We figured you'd be safe there for a while and that you would come looking for us as soon as you could. In the mean time though, Zelya decided to make certain we would be well taken care of. She knew of your inheritance and managed to transfer all of the money out of the trust fund and into an encoded bank account so we would have access to it when we needed it and so your parents would not get it. She even got into Phil's hidden bank account and stole the money he had gained by hurting you, though that she donated to charity knowing you would not want it. She also liquidated some assets that were part of the inheritance and stored the money away for us in the account. The account is an encoded Swiss Bank account, completely untraceable. It's the same kind account Cat and I have that the Volturi gave us when we left them. All the papers are in the study."

I nodded. And Caitlyn continued. "But Zelya's gone now, Mommy, she's not here."

" **WHAT?** " I almost yelled.

"It's not her fault mom. See, you know how paranoid she is about the Volturi finding her. Well, they did actually find her. She'd gone hunting this morning, and came back about an hour later as pale as a ghost. You know how far away she goes to hunt since she's not vegetarian like we are, and so it was really weird that she would come back so quickly. She'd smelled Demetri. I don't think he was looking for her, I think it was a coincidence, but it really scared her. She left shortly there after to protect us. She left us with strict instructions to not leave the house for anything until you came looking for us, and that, since she was sure your transformation would be over by sunset at the latest, if you hadn't come to get us by morning Cam was to go look for you while I stayed behind with my siblings. She also told us to keep an eye out and our noses on alert for anything strange. If we smelled something then we were to run down to the basement and out the emergency escape tunnel she'd built, but otherwise to stay put until you came. She left you a note in the study. Oh and she also liquidated the house and the property it sits on. She sold it to the nature preserve so she warned us not to stay here for too long. And that we should all leave the area as soon as you came to get us. She left at about noon and told us that she would head off Demetri to try to buy us some time. I still think she was being really paranoid though."

"She may have been, sweetie, but Zelya does not do anything she's not thought through and if she did indeed smell Demetri, then she really would have had to leave. She's Romanian after all and from what I learned from the Cullens, the Volturi are really looking for them. Still, leaving you guys alone wasn't right."

"Mama, most of us aren't actually babies. We're too old even if we look and act like children," Achilles reminded me.

"Yes, but you're no match for an adult vampire. You're strong, but and adult is bigger which allows them to bring more strength to bear. If you were found before I could reach you, things could have turned ugly. It was reckless to leave you like that. At least she could have waited until I came."

"I don't disagree with you sweetie," Esme said. "But leaving them is the lesser of two evils. You know how confused you memory was after you awoke and it took you a while to be able to recover from that and be able to come get them. If she'd stayed, and it was true that Demetri was looking for her, she would have been leading him straight to the children. Anything could have happened after that."

I nodded to Esme. I knew it was true, but I didn't like that the babies were left all alone. We reached the front door and I stepped through. I'd only taken 2 steps in the door when I felt 8 little forces slam into me. This worried me since the eightuplets were very little still. Though they were a little over a year old they still looked, at most, like 1 week old newborns, only the fact that their umbilical cords were gone and they had bellybuttons hinted at the fact the were older, but still no more than a couple of weeks. They could crawl, hold themselves up on their own and hold on to people, but they were still very little, and I was now made of marble. "Are you guys alright?" I asked them as I looked down my body to see that they were clinging to me, my stomach and legs with all the strength their little bodies could muster. I had always thought they seemed so strong, but now looking at them with my new eyes I could see just how fragile they really were, like regular infants almost. I saw them bob their heads as they clung to me. I sighed, I could tell that they too would not let go for a while. I walked over to the couch and sat down to allow the kids to be more comfortable and rubbed my hands down all their little bodies to soothe them. I could tell they were still very scared, both from having been alone and from almost loosing me.

After a few moments I finally noticed that Esme, Rose and Alice, were in the room with us. I'd plum forgotten they were even there, they'd been so quiet. I smiled sheepishly at them, and they gave me a smile back. I could see that Esme's eyes were clinging to my infants, particularly Renesmee and Edward. Wait Edward… Edward C.… **EDWARD CULLEN**. Was he the father? I mean I know that they said I was the only one to survive and that he was the father of the babies that belonged to the only mother that survived, but maybe there were others. "Esme?"

Her head snapped up to look at me. "Sorry Bella. It's just they are so beautiful. And so similar to Edward."

"They are?" I asked wanting confirmation on what I had begun to believe.

She nodded as she sat on the armchair beside the couch. "Especially the boy and girl on your lap. They look just like him. The boy even has human eyes. And the 3 on your right look so much like Carlisle as well as Edward, but I can't understand how."

"Mom, I had always thought that there was more to the venom making a vampire than just turning us. I mean we know our very DNA has to be changed in order to become vampires. Could it be possible that the sire's DNA passes to the new vampire?" Rose said. Caitlyn flitted upstairs for a minute.

Esme seemed to think on it for a moment, "It's possible. We could have Carlisle find out, maybe do some DNA exams."

"But it could also be that his samples were also used on Bella," Alice said.

"No they weren't. She was only given the samples of one male," Caitlyn said as she came back downstairs. In her hands were a briefcase, an envelope and the logbook. She handed them to me. "Here mommy. Zelya's letter, the briefcase where she put all the account info and your laptop, and the logbook that Vladimir and Stephan made." She opened the logbook to show us a particular entry.

 _ **Research has shown that the mixing of samples lowers the possibility of conception and that few humans can conceive for vampires. Research shows mothers seem to have to have some specific characteristics to be able to conceive and need very special hands on care to ensure the health and survival of the fetus post birth and the life of the mother if it is wished to keep the mother alive for future reproduction. Mothers may receive damage from the child, which as it moves in utero because of vampire strength.**_

 _ **List of characteristics of mothers**_

 _ **Age:**_ _14-20. Any older or younger and conception becomes difficult. By age 27 girls loose all ability to conceive with vampires._

 _ **No natural fear of vampires.**_

 _ **Skin type:**_ _Caucasian. Pale white, translucent looking. Girls of other razes have less chance to conceive. Better able if they seem similar to a vampire._

 _ **Hair:**_ _Dark colored, blonds have lower chances to conceive._

 _ **Eye color:**_ _Chocolate Brown or Dark Blue. Other colors mean that their genes my not easily mix._

 _ **Build:**_ _slender and none athletic. Girls with broader builds or overly athletic girls have lower chances of conception and overly athletic girls tend to get injuries of the ovaries, which cause problems with conception and or have more male type hormones._

 _ **Scent:**_ _Should have a scent of strawberries mixed into it naturally. It shows the girl's ripe to conceive for vampires. A rare scent._

"I found the logbook yesterday while I was looking for a storybook for the babies and saw it. I was gonna show it to you Mommy, when you came. They're describing you." I nodded. I was basically born to reproduce with vampires. "There's more." She turned the page and showed us the entry for a male.

 _ **Research also shows that not every male vampire is capable of reproduction, and that of those that are capable only a few are reproductively fit, the rest has their chances decrease because of a variety of problems.**_

 _ **List of characteristics of fathers.**_

 _ **Age:**_ _100-1,000. Younger males might not be able to reproduce and males much older than a 1,000 will have trouble though they will still succeed depending on how fitting the mother is._

 _ **Skin Type:**_ _Caucasian or olive toned. Dark skinned vampire males or Asian males are believed to be infertile._

 _ **Eye color:**_ _Indeterminable as only two samples belong to golden eyed vampires. However, given the success of these two samples it can be assumed that golden-eyed vampires might have an easier time._

 _ **Build:**_ _Slender but strong. Overly bulky males have harder chances and overly thin males are sterile._

 _ **Control:**_ _Strong. Only those males able to keep from feeding on a human even whilst in the throngs of instincts can have any hope of succeeding._

 _ **Edward C.17-fis, 108borso used on I.M. Swan. Little girl became pregnant with only one treatment from one male's sample. Both seem to be exceedingly compatible for reproduction between them. They match every category, and are of the same physical age, which may also increase reproductive fitness since they are both teenagers. Good reproductive match, particularly the girl who mothered 8 healthy infants, 5 girls and 3 boys which is a rarity for humans and even more so for vampires.**_

 _ **Children should be delivered via C-Section to ensure the health of both, particularly the mother since the children use their own teeth to tear their way out of the womb killing the mother in the process, particularly when under distress such as placental abruption, cord compression or cords wrapped around the neck among other things. Female fetuses seem to be more common than male fetuses since most of the born fetuses whether viable or not were female and of those that were viable, most were female. Female fetuses are not venomous but males are. There are 4 kinds of hybrids as defined by their pregnancy length and the length of time it takes them to reach maturity when compared to a fully human child.**_

 _ **Vampire Human Hybrids**_

 _ **Type 1**_

 _ **Pregnancy length:**_ _30-35 days. This type of hybrid is born within a month or so of conception but appears full term at birth._

 _ **Maturity:**_ _Reached at between 7-8 years old. This type of hybrid ages at 8 times faster than a human child. Appear to be, physically in their late teens early twenties, at about 17-18 years old physically. Cannot pass for much older than 23-25 years of age._

 _ **Venomous:**_ _Females are not venomous not even when fully grown, males are venomous since birth._

 _ **Physical characteristics:**_ _Pale skin like a vampire's though not quite as pale as one. Has the flush of human blood in their skin. Much warmer than human children. Heartbeat is faster than an adult human's let alone a child. Paternal characteristics may be dominant. Strength, speed and senses comparable to a vampire's though they are not quite as strong, or fast as a vampire. Require sleep. Drink blood and eat human food. Skin more or less as impenetrable as a vampire's but they're not quite as indestructible, though certainly far more than a human._

 _ **Damage to the mother:**_ _Fatal. They have the strength of a vampire even in utero, which means that their mothers sustain severe damage to their bodies during the pregnancy. Particularly fatal if delivered under distress, or because the fetuses were allowed to use their teeth to escape the womb. Mother may be salvageable with venom if caught in time._

 _ **Appropriate Birthing Time:**_ _No earlier than 28 days no later than 35 days. If children are born before 28 days' gestation they probably will not be viable. If delivered later than 35 days, the mother will suffer irreparable damage even with venom and will die, and fetus may die as well due to complications. Best delivery day set at around 30-32 days._

 _ **Type 2**_

 _ **Pregnancy length:**_ _2-3 months. This type of hybrid appears full term at birth though the mother is still considered to be in the first trimester for a human pregnancy of would be thought to be having a miscarriage._

 _ **Maturity:**_ _18 years of age. This type of hybrid ages at the same speed as a human child. Appear to be, physically in their late teens early twenties, at about 17-18 years old physically. Cannot pass for much older than 23-25 years of age._

 _ **Venomous:**_ _Females are not venomous not even when fully grown, males are venomous since birth._

 _ **Physical characteristics:**_ _Pale skin like a vampire's though not quite as pale as one. Has the flush of human blood in their skin. Much warmer than human children. Heartbeat is faster than an adult human's let alone a child. Paternal characteristics may be dominant. Strength, speed and senses comparable to a vampire's though they are not quite as strong, or fast as a vampire. Require sleep. Drink blood and eat human food. Skin more or less as impenetrable as a vampire's but they're not quite as indestructible, though certainly far more than a human._

 _ **Damage to the mother:**_ _Most Likely Fatal. They have the strength of a vampire even in utero, which means that their mothers sustain severe damage to their bodies during the pregnancy. Particularly fatal if delivered under distress, or because the fetuses were allowed to use their teeth to escape the womb. Mother may be salvageable with venom is caught in time._

 _ **Appropriate Birthing Time:**_ _No earlier than 2 ½ months no more than 3 months. If children are born before 2 ½ months' gestation they probably will not be viable. If delivered later than 3 months, the mother will suffer irreparable damage even with venom and will die, and fetus may die as well due to complications. Best delivery day set at around 2 ¾ months._

 _ **Type 3**_

 _ **Pregnancy length:**_ _4 months._ _This type of hybrid appears full term at birth though the mother is still considered to be in the second trimester for a human pregnancy of would be thought to be having a miscarriage as a human child would not be viable at this age._

 _ **Maturity:**_ _144-160 years of age. This type ages at an 8_ _th_ _of the speed of a human child so for every 8 years or so of life the child gains one year of development. Appear to be, physically in their late teens early twenties, at about 17-18 years old physically. Cannot pass for much older than 23-25 years of age._

 _ **Venomous:**_ _Females are not venomous not even when fully grown, males may be venomous since birth or acquire their venom after being fully mature._

 _ **Physical characteristics:**_ _Pale skin like a vampire's though not quite as pale as one. Has the flush of human blood in their skin. Much warmer than human children. Heartbeat is faster than an adult human's let alone a child. Paternal characteristics may be dominant. Strength, speed and senses comparable to a vampire's though they are not quite as strong, or fast as a vampire. Require sleep. Drink blood and eat human food. Skin more or less as impenetrable as a vampire's but they're not quite as indestructible, though certainly far more than a human._

 _ **Damage to the mother:**_ _Might be Fatal. They have the strength of a vampire even in utero, which means that their mothers can sustain severe damage to their bodies during the pregnancy if they bring strength to bear. Particularly fatal if delivered under distress, or because the fetuses were allowed to use their teeth to escape the womb. Mother may be salvageable with venom is caught in time but there's a good chance she will survive human._

 _ **Appropriate Birthing Time:**_ _No earlier than 4 months. If children are born before 4 months' gestation they probably will not be viable. If delivered later than 4 months, the mother will suffer irreparable damage even with venom and will die, and fetus may die as well due to complications. Best delivery day set at around 4 months._

 _ **Type 4**_

 _ **Pregnancy length:**_ _5 ½- 6 months._

 _ **Maturity:**_ _Indeterminable_ _ **.**_ _There is no clear pattern to how they will grow as_ _this is the rarest type of hybrid and no 2 known hybrids of this kind are known to have had the same aging pattern. Only thing known is that it takes many years possibly centuries or millennia to be fully mature. Some known type 4 hybrids are still growing up despite the passage of 2,000 years since their birth. Estimations need to be made for each child based on physical changes after a number of years. Appear to be, physically in their late teens early twenties, at about 17-18 years old physically. Cannot pass for much older than 23-25 years of age._

 _ **Venomous:**_ _Females are not venomous not even when fully grown, males may be venomous since birth or acquire their venom after being fully mature._

 _ **Physical characteristics:**_ _Pale skin like a vampire's though not quite as pale as one. Has the flush of human blood in their skin. Much warmer than human children. Heartbeat is faster than an adult human's let alone a child. Paternal characteristics may be dominant. Strength, speed and senses comparable to a vampire's though they are not quite as strong, or fast as a vampire. Require sleep. Drink blood and eat human food. Skin more or less as impenetrable as a vampire's but they're not quite as indestructible, though certainly far more than a human._

 _ **Damage to the mother:**_ _Might be Fatal. They have the strength of a vampire even in utero, which means that their mothers can sustain severe damage to their bodies during the pregnancy if they bring strength to bear. Particularly fatal if delivered under distress, or because the fetuses were allowed to use their teeth to escape the womb. Mother may be salvageable with venom is caught in time but there's a good chance she will survive human._

 _ **Appropriate Birthing Time:**_ _No earlier than 5 ½ months and no later than 6 months. If children are born before 5 ½ months' gestation they probably will not be viable. If delivered later than 6 months, the mother will suffer irreparable damage even with venom and will die, and fetus may die as well due to complications. Best delivery day set at around 6 months._

"And that would be Edward, Carlisle and Eleazar. Though Eleazar's about 1200 years. Carlisle has changed five vampires and has never once drank a drop of human blood, not even with you Bella and he'd had to wash venom over your bleeding gashes to keep the little blood you had left inside you," Esme said. "Eleazar came to this life on his own, and has not fallen of the wagon since."

"And Edward kept from feeding on Bella for over a year as she was his singer. They sat together in class 5 days a week and yet he never fed on her, though she tempted him. And yes Bella, that's why he was so overly cold to you. It wasn't you; it was just that your scent was so incredibly potent to him, like pure heroin to an addict. He actually really likes you, and I mean **'like'** like you." We all looked at Alice confused. "I've been seeing visions of you since September 13th, 1989. The day you were born. I never saw what happened to you because of Phil or Charlie; if I had I would have stopped it from happening. But I knew who you were though it took some time for me to realize it completely. Since I first met my brother I had been looking to the future to find his mate…"

" _ **The little sister we've been waiting for, for years.**_ That's what you told your father when he brought Bella home and you thanked him for saving her," Esme said her eyes wide.

"Exactly. I got a few visions of her over the years, enough to track her growth. My first two visions of her were the most important though. I saw Bella as a baby in a hospital bassinet crying wrapped in a pink and white baby blanket. You were so pretty. I saw you reaching your hands out of the blanket like you wanted to grab something or were asking to be picked up, and from there I saw another vision. An older girl, 17 to 18 years old, wrapped in Edward's arms, on her finger was a ring that I recognized. You know he kept some of his human mother's things; he's even given us some, Esme. But that ring would only go to one girl. His mate. Elizabeth Mazen's engagement ring. I wasn't sure how the baby in the bassinet and the other picture were related for a number of years. Not until 14 years later when I got the vision of you as a teenager. Before, you'd been a bit too hard to understand. But in that vision you looked just like the girl from the first vision, albeit a little shorter and a little skinnier. I knew then who you were and knew we would meet you soon. When you moved here I could barely contain myself. You had finally come home. Edward never knew about the visions since I saw that if I told him, he would try to prevent you from joining him, wanting you to have something better than him, though what he thought would be better than him, I have no idea. I tried for years to find out who you were, but couldn't find you. I resolved to let fate bring you home when you were ready. But it's like fate wanted to give Edward everything he could ever want and make sure he couldn't ignore it at the same time."

"What do you mean, Alice?"

"Edward and I have always been close because of our gifts, you guys know that. Both of us can relate easier to the other and we do talk. We tell each other things we'd never tell anyone else, except perhaps our mates. He'd told me about his human life. You guys know that he'd wanted to become a soldier and that he'd never been attracted to anyone then or now until he met Bella. What you don't know is that, though he's never wanted anyone before, he had wanted to get married and have a family, just like anyone else." She looked at Esme, "I know you worried about him, Mom. I know you worried that maybe he was too young still when Carlisle changed him and that there was something missing from him. That's not the case, not really. I mean he was still a boy, an in some ways he still is, but he wanted the same things as anyone else. But Edward is very picky. I mean why settle for bologna when he had all of eternity to wait for his steak; it's what he was destined for after all." She then looked at me and smiled, "Bella it's a good thing you didn't meet Edward in 1918, when he was human still. You would have been pregnant for most of your marriage just to keep up with his family wishes. He told me once that he'd wanted a large family, at least 8 kids, but he really wanted 12 or 15. He told me he wouldn't have cared if he fathered them all or of they were adopted, but that that's what he wanted." I looked around, my eyes wide. "Yes, you gave him exactly what he wanted and he will want them all; Edward is a greedy little boy after all. And fate made sure he couldn't ignore you. You have a scent that is far too attractive for him to ignore, even now, though the burn of thirst is now gone, and gave him the strength and determination to prevent him from ending your life. You have a mind that's totally silent to him, which intrigues and frustrates him. You're like a big mysterious puzzle to him and he's always been a curious little boy. You've always been so fragile looking that he couldn't help but feel protective of you, even now, in fact especially now that he know you did need him to protect you even if now you can protect yourself. The children were born while you two were separated so that he couldn't ignore them either or work to prevent the pregnancy given that we know it is actually dangerous."

Rose shook her head. "Put all those things together, and fate really was working overtime to give him the world."

"And since it would take so long for his soul mate to be born, the only way that he could wait for her would be if he became a vampire with all of eternity to spare," Esme said.

"And with a family that would happily lay their live on the line to protect him and his love. A family that was built in much the same way as his has been built."

"What?" Rose asked.

"Carlisle was born in the 1640's but his mate wouldn't be born till the late 1800's early 1900's, he had to become a vampire to wait for her, and it made sure that he couldn't ignore her. His children as well would not begin to appear till the Civil War and he couldn't ignore them either. And they all came paired up. Jasper had to become a vampire to be able to wait for me since we were born so far apart in time. I was given my gift to see the future so I couldn't ignore either him or the family I needed. You Rose had to become a vampire to be able to find Emmett and save his life, without that he would have been lost as you would have. You wanted children Rose as did Esme, and you got them, and they are so similar to their parents it's hard to believe they aren't biologically yours. Edward was given a gift to read minds so he would know who wasn't worth his attention and the only one he couldn't hear is the only one that truly deserved it."

"Fate rally has been working overtime on us," Esme said.

"Or maybe there's no such thing as fate but just a really long series of things falling into the perfect place at the perfect time to make certain we reached a happily ever after," Alice said.

"I'm not…" I was about to say wasn't worthy of that, of him, but Alice placed her hand over my mouth to prevent me from doing so.

"I know you feel like you're not worthy; I even know that it will be a long time before you can be convinced otherwise. From what I saw of you growing up you never had much confidence in yourself and your self-esteem was very low. And that what happened to you has made you loose pretty much all of what you had before. But it's not true. You are worthy. You are worthy of all of this and more. You're worth of every good thing life can offer. You are worthy of him. Don't let the actions of those who truly are not worthy of even licking the soles of your shoes damage your view of yourself. Don't let them have that kind of power over you otherwise they will win. Your stepfather and your father are the ones who are unworthy and in their own shortcomings they sought to make you feel like they do, to make you be like them. Don't let them succeed. Every time you say, think or feel like you're unworthy of something, you're giving them power over you, you're letting them win, and you're letting them make you like them," Alice spoke firmly to me holding my face and making me look her in the eyes. I saw nothing in her eyes but sincerity, kindness and sisterly love, all directed at me.

"She's right Bella," Rose said taking my shoulders. "You know I took revenge on the men that killed me. Take yours Bella. You don't have to be violent like I did; I can see it's not for you. But you can have your revenge just as I did." She took my face in her hand and lifted it up high. "You can take revenge on them by holding your head up high and never looking down, by realizing that you are a person worth so much to so many and to yourself. You can take revenge on them by forgetting them. By moving on from what they did to you to live life to the fullest. By loving yourself and realizing that you are strong, that you are worth something, you take away their power, you make them loose, you make them even more worthless, and you have your revenge in that. You will never forget what they did to you; I wish that weren't the case, I wish you could just as I wish I could. But every time I kiss my husband, every time I hear him say he loves me, every time I play with my babies or hang out with my siblings or hug my parents I take revenge on the men who hurt me once more. Take yours Bella."

Esme ran her fingers over my face whipping my tears. "Look around you Bella. This room is full of people who love you who know you to be worth so much. I too know some of what you're going through. In my human life I was forced by my parents to marry a man I did not love and who was abusive to me. He would hurt me just as you and Rose were hurt. And I couldn't even turn to my parents for help, they just told me to keep quiet and take it silently. When he went off to World War I, I prayed to God he would be killed there, but he came back and he became even more abusive. I fell pregnant of him and ran away to save us both. But my little William died of a lung infection 2 days after he was born and I was so devastated by his loss that I too tried to take my own life. Carlisle found me in the morgue with barely a heartbeat that no instrument of the time could detect. He recognized me since when I was 16 I had broken my leg and he had been the doctor that had taken care of me. I fell in love with him at the time and I know that he did with me as well even if he didn't realize it at the time. He saved me, just as he saved you, and Edward and Rose and Emmett, and I awoke to the only man I ever loved and a son to call my own. But for a long time I did not feel like I deserved them, just like you, even after I married Carlisle. It took me a long time to understand that Charles was not worth throwing my new life away with doubts. That what he did to me only showed how worthless he was and it wasn't worth dwelling on it or on him and miss the life I had been given. Whatever is to happen between you and Edward is beside the point, merely icing on the cake. Take our advice sweetheart and put it behind you. Life will take care of avenging you. Live your life to the fullest and let those monsters stew in their own unworthiness. You're not at fault for their actions; it is all on their heads and their heads alone. I know it will take time for you to accept what we are saying. Bleeding wounds take longer to heal. And I know there will be times when you will falter, that for every step forward in the road to heal you'll take two steps back. But it will get easier, you will forget, you will move on and if you need an incentive, look into the faces of your babies, look at the honest and pure love that shines in their eyes for you, and only for you. You'll find that that's all the strength you'll ever need." I was crying at their words. I knew they were sincere. I knew they cared and they knew how I felt. I resolved myself to take their advice, but even as the resolution entered my heart, I faltered. Why would they care? Why would anyone care?

" _ **Because we love you, Momma,"**_ I heard 8 little voices say in my mind. My eyes widened. _**"It's just us Mama. Renesmee, Edward, Elizabeth, Anthony, Melody, Aurora, Carlisle, and Lillian, your babies. Cameron told you we could talk telepathically remember?"**_

" _ **We can hear you and we can hear your doubts and your pain."**_ I heard Cameron, Caitlyn, Achilles, Briseis, Lestat, Akasha and Tarquin say. _**"The babies can help us communicate telepathically with you as well. Don't let them win Mommy. Don't let them take you away from us."**_ I knew they were right, for them if for nothing else I had to put it all behind me. _**"Not just for us Mommy. Put it behind you for yourself. You deserve to be happy."**_ I nodded at them accepting their words. Esme, Rose, Alice and my babies smiled. But I still had a long hard road ahead of me before it would all be truly behind me, but I had taken the first step.

The peace of the moment was shattered when the phone rang. We all started laughing, how anti-climactic. "Didn't see that one coming," Alice laughed as she pulled out her cell phone.

" _ **Where the hell are you guys? You've been gone all night! And where did Esme disappear to?"**_ I heard Jasper say as soon as she answered. I looked at the sky surprised; the clouds were just beginning to brighten. It was morning; we really had been gone all night.

"Relax Jazz; we've just been having some girl bonding time. And Mom's here with us," Alice answered.

Jasper sighed and I could hear the relieved sighs of the other males in the house. Apparently the boys were getting worried. _**"When will you be back?"**_

"Miss me that much sweetie?" Alice asked with a giggle.

" _ **Always."**_

"We'll be back soon. We just have a few things to take care of."

" _ **What**_ **things** _ **?"**_ Jasper asked.

"It's a surprise. We'll be back soon, I promise and then we have some things to discuss." She got a far away look in her eyes for a minute. "Tell Carlisle to call in sick at work today and to excuse us from school."

" _ **Why?"**_

"There's gonna be an accident at the school today. Nothing serious, but there will be blood, plus they're blood typing in biology and everyone is going to be talking about Bella. There's even going to be a meeting at the school about it at 6th period. Carlisle shouldn't go into work because someone from the reservation is going to go there to see him. A tribal elder. I can see he doesn't know we broke the treaty but he wants to expose Carlisle and us. If he's not there they will take him to be a loon and lock him up. If he's there he will try to prove it. I doubt he will be able to, but we better not chance it. We need to discuss leaving the area and where to go. The tribe wants us gone and we may have problems with them in the future if we remain her much longer. Besides the sun will be coming out around noon."

" _ **They heard. Carlisle's calling the school now. We'll be waiting for you."**_ With that Jasper ended the call.

"Before anyone asks, yes it's all true. We need to be on our way soon," Alice told us.

"The kids' things are already packed; we never unpacked anything but the bare essentials just in case. Cameron, honey, go get the toy cars."

"Toy cars?" Rose asked.

I smiled, "It's easier to understand if you see it for yourself," I told them before turning to the stairs to go gather everything up.

"No need Momma," Caitlyn told me. "Everything's already packed in the SUV and waiting. Oh and the books are not there since they didn't fit. Zelya moved them to a storage unit in Port Angeles. The keys and information on it are also in the briefcase." I nodded and took the keys and controllers from the drawer on the corner table.

"And the toy cars are outside and waiting," Cameron told me as he came back into the room. "I packed their chargers into the mini trunks too since it was the only thing left to pack up."

"Let's get going then. We need to get home, and you guys need to take a nap. I bet you've been awake all night," I said as I picked up the briefcase and tucked the log and the letter along with the extra controllers into the briefcase and leaving only one for each car out into it before closing it back up.

"We're not sleepy!" they all said at the same time, but I knew it wasn't true. I could see the droopy eyes of all my babies who slept. I knew they would be out as soon as they were tucked into the toy cars.

"Yes you are," I said as I led everyone outside to the garage. "I'm not sure I can drive the car though."

"Don't worry Bella. I'll take care of the SUV," Rose said. "We still need to teach you to drive without breaking the steering wheel after all."

"Thanks Rose," I said handing her the keys before opening the garage door. Outside of the garage door the toy cars were waiting.

"Are those the toy cars?" Rose asked.

I nodded. "I know that they look like a giant toy sports car and a giant toy SUV. While I was in Romania Zelya and I found a company in France that makes custom baby things. Everything from cribs to toddler beds to strollers. And I saw this designs and I had to get them. The toy sports car is designed to look like an Aston Martin Vanquish and the SUV is a replica of a Mercedes SUV. They're actually very convenient since it's hard to find strollers that can fit 8 children. Both toys can fit 8 children in them and their things. They're actually run by remote control so I don't have to push it since a normal human would never be able to because each one is too heavy. It made my life easier when I had to go somewhere and take the kids." I explained as I set the children into their seats. I was right; they started falling asleep as soon as I buckled them in. I felt guilty for not coming for them sooner. I put the eightuplets into their sports car and the bigger babies in the SUV. "The toy SUV's more comfortable for the bigger kids to ride in because the sports car is a bit of a tight fit if you put all seven in. The top opens up as well as the doors so they can climb in, but in the sports car only the top opens up. It's more fit for infants to ride, though if I take out the baby car seats it does just fine for older children even if it can be a bit of tight squeeze. Cameron and Caitlyn are physically too old for them since they are only meant for ages newborn to 4 years old, but they are small enough to still fit in to the SUV comfortably and ride in it sometimes when I think it would be better." I then showed them the wrist controllers as well as the normal remote controls. "These control them. With the RC controllers they can be driven like any RC car. With these wrist controllers they fall back on the programming the car has and follow the controller. Each car comes with two controllers, one for mom and one for dad but only one RC controller. See all the tiny keys?" I asked as I showed them the features of the toy. "We can use them to drive the car like a real toy. If you cover them again then they deactivate and the toy just follows the original programming. But using the keys to drive is a bit complicated since they are so small. I prefer the RC controller if I want to drive them myself. None of the controllers are activated yet and the car's not turned on since I haven't shown any controller to the recognizer, which is this screen over here in the back with the keyboard which had a reader for this laser pointer in the controllers and when you pass it over the reader after you put it on the car turns on." I showed them what to do with mine after putting on my wrist controller and they laughed as the car turned on sounding just like a real sports car and SUV. "They're a fun toys for the parents as well as the kids. We'll let's take the kids for a drive," I told them as we walked off with the cars right beside me. Rose was driving the real SUV behind us while we walked at human speed.

"Does it stay beside whoever has the controller always?" Esme asked.

I nodded; "It's how we programmed them. They could be behind us or up front depending on the situation and how much room they have to move, and I can shift them as I wish. Since the path is wide enough I just leave them beside me, but when we go out on the streets, the few times I've done it away from prying eyes that might recognize me, I keep it ahead of me, never behind since someone could try something. Zelya played with the cars to make them work better and so they can go off road and through the woods as long as there's enough room for them to pass. The few times I had done that before I kept them behind me so I could check to see if the cars would fit or if there were too many obstacles in the area."

"How fast do they go?" Rose asked.

"The original models could only go at about 5 to 10 mph at most, a normal walk or run for a human. Zelya played with them so it could go faster. She made it so they would go as fast as a real sports car, about 150 mph, though the SUV is a little slower at 130 mph, which means that they could move with a vampire as long as we keep pace with it since we're all much faster than that. If we're running in the woods though it would be better to go much slower than their top speed. The off-roading capability can only stand a maximum speed of 100 mph for the sports car and 95 for the SUV since it's heavier, any more and it might break the suspensions."

"That's good, it means we can take them out and run without worry, but what powers it so it can keep that speed?" I heard Rose ask from the real SUV.

"Oh Rose, I just remembered, that SUV also has off-roading capabilities and it would be better if it wasn't seen. It's unregistered and has no license plate," I told her before pointing out a path just before the entrance. "We usually take it out this way; it's a fairly easy path to follow." Rose nodded and we all started running down the path with the toys right beside us. "The toys are electric. They have mini electric car engine Zelya found, originally designed for the toy jaguars they sell in the dealers and for the electric mini Coupes. She modified them to work with the toys, but it wasn't her specialty but they work just fine. They actually came with real car batteries which is what stores the power but Zelya added two more to each car to be able to get the energy output necessary for the upgrade in speed, but other than that they're the same as the normal model. They stayed in the storage room in the garage charging until I decide to take them out for a spin, and the charge lasts for three days if taken it out at the top speed and a week if kept within human norm."

"I work with cars and may be able to tweak them a little to make them work better," Rose said.

"How do you transport them from one place to the next," Esme asked curious.

"The SUV. It's an extra large model, which Zelya told me is built to sit 12 people. It's full of stuff now so you can't really see it but the back seats hide beneath the floors and it has a ramp that extends all the way to the floor coming out of the back though it to hides in the undercarriage. The toys are big but if you park them just right they can both fit inside. It's the only real way to fit all of the kids in one car," I explained. "The toys also came with air conditioning and real car shock absorbers to keep the kids comfortable inside which is why they're dead to the world right now."

"Poor things they must have been really tired," Esme said as she looked over the babies.

"Hey Bella. I just noticed something. You never told us the kids' names."

"Oops, I guess I forgot." I pointed them out as I said their names. **"Cameron David Swan, Caitlyn Ann Marie Swan, Achilles Endymion Swan, Briseis Ariadna Swan, Lestat Amadeo De Lioncourt Swan Jr., Akasha Gabrielle De Lioncourt Swan, Tarquin Louis De Lioncourt Swan, Renesmee Carlie Swan, Edward Masen Swan, Elizabeth Alicia Swan, Anthony Charley Swan, Aurora Ariel Swan, Melody Rose Swan, Carlisle Dale Swan, and Angelina Lillian Swan."** I saw Esme's eyes widen, "I know. I noticed as I pointed them out. The names of the eightuplets are actually after you guys. I have to admit that when I named them I rationalized the names away in different ways, but I really didn't know what compelled me to pick those specific names. I knew some reasons like Melody Rose being for my childhood best friend Melody who basically saved my life when we were 8-years-old, right before she died. She died after being raped and killed by her stepfather. Her mother came home from work in time to find her daughter alive and call for help. At the hospital, she was conscious and identified her stepfather as her killer and told the police that he had told her that his next victim would be me. Melody died in the operating table and the police caught her stepfather right at my door, as he was about to knock. Renée was always very irresponsible, and I'd been home alone that day as I often was since I was six. If Melody had not been able to tell them what happened, I would have died that day. Later it was discovered that Melody's stepfather was a wanted man in Minnesota, as well as in Washington, Delaware and Chicago where he had raped and killed 4 other girls ages 5, 7 and 8. Melody was his fifth victim and I would have been the sixth had she not been able to tell police who had killed her before she died and that he was going after me. He died by lethal injection 5 years ago. And Charley being after my dad, who had been good to me as a child. I won't change it now, but it's no longer for my father. And some were because I liked them. Now I think I was compelled to name them after you guys even though I didn't know you yet. Name them after my family, my real family." Esme and Alice wrapped their arms around me tightly and I could see Rose smiling happily. They were happy that I considered them my family, it was the first time I had admitted it out loud.

After a few minutes, Alice got a far away look in her eyes. "We better get a move on, the boys are getting antsy. I can see though that we'll need to keep them away from the toys. They might break them."

"Edward has a right to play with them too. The other controller is for him since they're his."

The girls' smiles got impossibly wider. "True, but I was talking about Carlisle, Emmett and Jazz." Alice said with a laugh. We talked and laughed about all the trouble we thought the boys might find with the toy cars and their reactions to the little surprises. We laughed and joked like a family, a mother and her daughters just out for a stroll with the grandchildren. I was so happy; I now had a family, a real family.


	9. Chapter 8: Happy Belated Birthday

**Chapter 8: Happy Belated Birthday**

 **Bella POV**

We had to take some round about turns to get to the main highway and follow it back home. Rose had been forced to take the SUV onto the highway because the path was too small so Alice got in with her to make sure police didn't spot the car while Esme and I led the toy cars through the tree line beside the highway, hidden from view. We talked about everything that had happened before and I explained about what the books in Port Angeles were. I could see the surprise in their eyes and we agreed that we should retrieve them right away. I told them how I'd been trying to work on translating them and Esme told me that Carlisle and Edward would love to help me with that. It would make for a fun pastime activity for the three of us. A few miles away from the house we heard Alice groan. "What's wrong?" I asked as we led the toys around the fallen logs.

"Carlisle called the Denalis to bring the kids home last night while we were gone. He thinks Bella's stable enough to introduce them to her, which he's right about. It'll be fun to reveal to him that Bella can do as a newborn what took him centuries to learn to do: ignore human blood."

"But that's good Alice, so why did you groan like that?" Rose asked.

"Because they're there and Tanya's at it again. Edward's really annoyed with her and she's even tying to get some attention from Jazz and Emm since where not there, which is also annoying the boys, self-centered bitch," Alice explained and I heard Rose growl.

I was confused. "But I thought that they were family?"

"They are, honey," Esme explained. "The thing is that Tanya's well, she's a succubus, a vampire that basically lives for sex. She used to feed on the human she mated with but through that she and her sisters Irina and Kate, also succubae, developed their conscience and gave up human blood. But Tanya is still a succubus, and she has been trying to get Edward to sleep with her since she met him. He's not in any way interested but she's still trying. It really annoys him."

"Mom, you're being too nice. Basically Bella, Tanya's the vampire prostitute and doesn't like being told no. She's not in any way really interested in Edward. It's just that he doesn't find her attractive and doesn't want to sleep with her that annoys the hell out of her. But she'll pretty much go after anyone and since Rose and I aren't there to keep her in line, she's trying to make a play for our husbands. We know there's nothing to be concerned about, all she's doing is annoying them, otherwise we would have been there by now. Tanya can be nice but she's dying to have a mate and it's this behavior that really annoys us," Rose explained.

I started to glare as well as they were. I didn't like this behavior towards Edward. If I was being honest with myself, I was jealous. I wanted him for myself, after all I'd had a huge crush on him since the day I met him and Alice said that he liked me like that too. I knew I was nowhere near ready for anything of the sort given my past. I still had many issues I needed to deal with to be able to put everything behind me and be able to have any kind of relationship with anyone, but I still felt jealous irrational as it may be. Edward was free to do as he wished, children not withstanding, but if he really wasn't interested, then that Tanya should really get a clue and leave him be. "I've got an idea," I said before really thinking through my plan.

Alice laughed, "It'll work and the looks on everyone's faces will be priceless, especially Tanya's. She won't annoy Edward after that, at least for a while, and now he has Bella to defend him," she said. I smiled.

"So what's the plan?" Rose asked.

"Rose, you and Alice go to the house a head of us. Act real casual as if nothing were going on. If they ask where we are just say Esme and I will be along shortly, we just had something to take care of first. And keep Edward out of your heads as well as you possibly can, but get everyone inside if they're outside and keep them from seeing outside so we can come in with the cars. Esme and I will come in behind you. We'll need to clean up the cars to rinse the dirt off of them so they can come inside because the kids are dead to the world and won't be able to get in and there's too many to carry. I do it all the time, and it only takes a couple of minutes. Once that's done Esme can just walk in and act real casual. If they ask where I am, just say I'll be in, in a minute. Then get Edward to in some way talk about the babies. I'll walk in then with one of them in my hands and hand it over to him," I told them.

"Great idea Bella, it'll be fun. Plus, they're Edward's birthday presents finally coming home," Alice said.

"Birthday presents?"

"They were born on his human birthday, June 20th," Esme explained. "He was really hurt when he found out they were missing and may never get to meet them. Which reminds me, Bella what's your full name?"

"Isabella Marie Swan, why?"

"Because the name we were given for the mother of Edward's children is I.M. Swan. We couldn't even be sure what it really stood for so we couldn't use it to track you down with it. Ironic really, how you were right under our noses the whole time we were trying to track you down. Why don't I get him to say that name again and you can come in and tell him what it really means."

"That'll work, Esme. But we better keep Edward out of our heads or the surprise will be ruined. You're so lucky Bella, that you can do it so easily and completely. It's quite tiring to find gibbering to think about to keep him distracted from our real thoughts," Alice said. We all laughed at that as we headed for the house, splitting up to carry out the plan.

 **Edward POV**

I've been so worried all night. Bella, Rose and Alice had been gone all night and the Esme disappeared after she got a call from Alice saying only that Bella needed her. I tried to follow behind her but Carlisle thought it would be best to let Esme handle her given everything and so we had just sat around the house waiting for them to return, and they still hadn't come back when morning came. At some point in the night Carlisle decided to phone the Denalis and asked them to bring the babies back since he thought Bella was stable enough that we could introduce them to her. I was happy since I missed them and knew that the others did too. It had taken me a while before I had warmed up to them since they represented a reminder that what were to be my kids was missing and there was no way to know what had happened to them or their mother. We tried tracking the accounts but it was a dead end and we couldn't use the name I.M. Swan to try and find the mother since we weren't sure what it stood for. If Swan represented a last name, or was part of a last name if it even stood for a last name, there were thousands of people with it all over the world and we didn't know what I.M. stood for. All in all it looked hopeless to find them. I could only pray they were alright wherever they were. Still I had warmed up to my new siblings and niece and nephew and loved to have them around and had missed them when we'd had to send them away for their safety since there was a newborn in the house. That thought brought Bella back into the center of my thoughts. She was so beautiful and had been so terribly hurt. All I wanted was to take her into my arms and protect her from the world. _**Not now Edward,**_ I scolded myself. _**She's not anywhere even remotely ready for something like that. After everything she's been through, male attention is the last thing she needs.**_ I knew this, but it was hard to ignore my instincts. But I could be there for her, be her friend and show her that not all men would hurt her. I could protect her be whatever she needed of me. _**Those sweet chocolate pools that drowned me were now red rose petals and still with the power to overwhelm me… Not now Edward, Down Boy.**_

I was broken from my thoughts by the sound of an approaching car engine. I noticed then that it was daybreak and yet mom and the girls were still gone. _**I hope their new addition is settling in alright,**_ I heard Kate's thoughts from the direction of the driveway. _**I wonder how she's handling this life she was given and what her story is.**_

"The Denalis are here," I told the others.

 _ **I wonder if the new vampire has any abilities,**_ Eleazar thought.

 _ **Hope the new girl isn't thinking of getting with my Edward,**_ Tanya thought and I wished I could vomit as she began fantasizing about finally getting me in bed with her. She had a plan to make her play on my while she was here and scare off the newborn.

 _ **I'm no your Edward, I'm**_ **her** _ **Edward.**_ I wanted to scream at her. **HOLD** __ **IT** _ **,**_ **Her** _ **Edward?**_ **Bella's** _ **Edward? Where did that thought come from and why do I suddenly love the idea and want to shout it from the rooftops?**_ My own mind and heart were so confused where she was concerned. I used to be able to know why I did or thought something but little Bella Swan had turned my word upside down the second I caught sight of those pools of chocolate. _**So sweet and caring… Not now, down boy.**_ I had to keep reminding myself to control myself. What had this girl done to me and why was I so happy about it?

 _ **Calm down Edward, your emotions are all over the place,**_ Jasper thought at me. _**I know this is all new for you, being in love and all, but you need to get a hold of yourself. She's not ready for much right now and it will be a while before she is.**_ I stared at Jasper, confused by his statement and he smirked. _**Yes brother you're in love and you've got it bad. I can feel your emotions, and know what they mean, even if you don't, but take it easy with her, she's been through enough. I can tell you she feels the same way and has since you two met, but she needs to heal before she can be ready for a relationship. But just be there for her and it will all work out in the end. Maybe Emmett can help you understand her better since her and Rose have similar stories.**_

I nodded at him, but I was still confused. Love, was that what this was? I didn't know but I knew Bella needed to heal and needed some help with that. And maybe Jazz was right and Emmett could help me understand how to better help her do that. He may be a goof most of the time, but he could be serious if the situation called for it and he did know about helping someone who'd gone through what Rose and Bella had gone through, he'd helped Rose after all, helped her heal her bleeding wounds. Maybe he could help me do the same for Bella? I resolved to talk to him about it in private later. I watched as Carlisle walked to the door and went outside with Emmett right on his tail. They came back a second later with the two twins in hand. Ayden was pulling on Carlisle's hair as he and his sister chattered away at him. Trying to tell him about the snow they'd been playing in up north. They could talk, and their minds were very developed, but their talking was more baby gibberish and short words than actual sentences. Their minds had perfect grammar and communication skills but their bodies weren't physically able to express that. It made me wonder if my babies were the same. Penny pulled on Emmett's ear as she chattered at him while her brother slept on his other arm. The kids were strong, like vampires and all that pulling was actually a little painful. Emm and Carlisle were happy about having them back, but the pulling was getting painful. It was always a hilarious scene, so much so that Rose and Mom had a hard time correcting them for that behavior; it was just too funny particularly since they only did that with them. Mom even told me once that she was just letting it happen, right of passage. And I knew it would be a fond memory for them when the kids were grown, as painful as it may be now. I had to swallow my snickers though and Carlisle sent a halfhearted glare my way for them, he knew I found the situation hilarious.

Behind them walked our cousins. I was glad to see them, it had been a while. Well I was glad to see most of them. Tanya walked in last and headed straight for me. _**LORD HAVE MERCY ON ME. Please not this not today. Can't I have just one day where I'm not accosted by the vampire tramp?**_ I thought to myself with dread.

"Hi Edward," Tanya said as she walked over to me, exaggerating the role of her hips. To most men, Tanya would be irresistible, all she had to do was give them a look and they would melt. I could see why, I mean she was beautiful, I wasn't oblivious to that. But I also wasn't most men, and I wasn't interested. She had nothing on Bella. It irked her that I never found her attractive and never wanted to sleep with her. Men's admiration was like a drug to her and she was not happy that she didn't have mine. Would be even less happy when she found out exactly who did interest me.

 _ **NOT INTERESTED!**_ I thought to myself before answering her. "Tanya, you look well." _**DON'T TAKE THAT THE WRONG WAY! My mama raised me to be polite and a gentleman and that's the polite response. No way does it mean I'm interested.**_ Tanya got a gleam in her eyes, the same predatory gleam I'd seen many times before, always directed at me. _**Give it up you're not my type,**_ I thought to myself. I looked away from her and greeted her family. Tanya was frustrated with my refusal to give in to her demands. She started assaulting me with the images of what she wanted to do to me and how good she thought she could make me feel. _**Let the torment begin! LORD HAVE MERCY ON ME, PLEASE, PLEASE send someone to help me.**_

But Tanya was distracted for a while as Carlisle told them about Bella. He made sure not to reveal too much about her past, knowing it would just make her uncomfortable when she came home, but he had to tell them why she did what she did. Kate, Irina, Carmen and Eleazar were sympathetic towards her but Tanya was just downright mean. Underneath she did feel sorry for what Bella'd gone through, she wasn't a monster. But she couldn't help make derogatory comments about her. It took all my willpower not to jump up and separate her head from her shoulders because of her comments. I decided to distract myself by helping Emmett out with changing the babies' diapers, better that than this and I hated changing diapers. Emm wasn't surprised when I offered to help. He knew I needed to get away from Tanya. He, Jazz and the girls always tried to find ways to help me get away from her, knowing how much she annoyed me. "Why don't you take the kids to your room and read to them or something? Get away for a while. We'll let you know when Bella comes back?" he whispered at me the offer. I nodded and thanked him before picking up the 4 babies and practically running to my room and locking the door behind me so Tanya wouldn't follow. It was something she usually did. Tried to follow me so she could get me alone. To this day she'd never made it into my room and I wasn't about to take chances now even if the babies were with me. I knew a locked door wouldn't do anything against a vampire if Tanya really wanted to get in my room but it would deter her, she wasn't that kind of person and there were other people in the house.

I sighed in relief and saw the babies sitting on the floor laughing at me. They thought what I did was really funny. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, but she's really annoying to me." It only made them laugh harder, but they didn't really understand why she annoyed me, just that she did. "Anyway I got a new storybook for you guys. What me to read it to you?" I asked them. They started nodding and trying to say yes. I laughed and pulled out the storybook from my bookshelf as I settled them on a blanket on the carpet with a few stuffed toys. We all had things like this in our rooms for when we spent time with the babies. There were pretty much thousands of toys all around the house for them since the girls pretty much went crazy shopping when they first came and we all were guilty of getting them anything we wanted whenever we wanted. They would be so spoiled but we couldn't help it. I sat on the couch in front of them and read them Beauty and the Beast. It was the original book I'd found the first edition of it when the story was first published.

About half an hour later, Jazz knocked on the door; the babies groaned since it meant I had to stop the story. I laughed as I went to open the door. "Rose and Alice are pulling in, in a SUV," he told me. I was surprised, I guess I was just having so much fun with the babies I didn't hear them coming.

"About time they got home. But where would they get an SUV from?"

"Must have bought it to carry all the stuff they got for Bella," Jazz said and I had to laugh. It was a possibility.

I turned back into the room as Jazz followed me in, "Sorry guys, we'll have to finish the story later," I told them as we picked them up. They groaned again and pouted, but we quickly made them giggle with a few tickles. We never lived to see them sad and always tried to cheer them up if they were. I would finish the story later.

We carried the kids downstairs just as Rose and Alice came in from the garage. Rose headed straight for her kids in Jazz arms, taking them into her own and hugging them much to their glee, they'd missed their mother. I put the other two on the play mat in the living room, as Carlisle spoke up, "Where are Bella and Esme? And where have you guys been the past few hours?"

"Oh, nothing special, just some girl bonding time. Esme and Bella will be here soon, they just had something to take care of," Alice answered. It was then that I noticed I couldn't access their thoughts. They were thinking gibberish to keep me distracted.

"Alice why are you translating the Iliad into Korean sign language and Rose why are you translating Mother Goose's rimes into Arabic in your heads? What are you hiding?" I asked.

"Don't know what you're talking about," Rose answered as she switched to thinking of the new fashion designers of the decade. This kept on for a while and it was driving me bananas. Worst part about it was that Tanya was also thinking about her fantasies, trying to get me to crack. If I could puke I would never stop. I was sure I was getting a migraine from this little exercise.

My saving grace came a few minutes later when Esme came in from the garage. I'd been so overwhelmed with thoughts that I didn't hear her come in. Carlisle stood and kissed her cheek in greeting asking where Bella was. My ears perked up at that. Where was Bella? Wasn't she with Esme? "She'll be in, in a minute, she's just grabbing something."

"What did you girls do away all night?" Carlisle asked.

"Oh nothing much. Bella's confused memories came back and she needed a little help with them but other than that we just hung out, you know spent some good quality time together. Nothing much really?" Esme answered real casual, and very much unlike her. She was also thinking of the revisions of her plans for a renovation she was working on to keep me out of her head. A red flag went up in my head?

"Was she alright?" I asked her. I was afraid of what she might have remembered and what it might do to her.

"Relax, son. She's fine," Esme answered. "Better now, actually. Much better."

This confused me. It was good that she was getting better but what was going on. I heard the scratch of nails on a door, steel nails. I saw the girls smile, and they were directed at me. What? "Actually, we engaged in a rousing game of detective while we were gone," Alice said, she looked like she was about to burst with something as did Rose and Esme.

"What?" Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper and I asked in confusion.

The girls giggled. Esme walked over to me and took my shoulders in her hands. "Remember we said we had a surprise?" she asked everyone, but the look in her eyes told me the question was really for me. There was a gleam in my mother's eyes, which told me she was up to something. I nodded and saw the others nod as well. "Well, we discovered something while we were out. Something important. Edward, what was the name?"

"What name?" I asked.

"The name of the girl who survived?"

I looked at my mother confused as to why she would bring this up. She knew it was a painful subject for me. "I.M. Swan," I answered, unsure as to what she was getting at.

She nodded. "We know who she is," was all she said. My knees buckled and if she hadn't been holding me I would have been sprawled on the floor. They knew who she was. They knew who she was? What did that mean? They knew where my babies were?

" **WHAT?** " I cried out in confusion.

" **I.M. SWAN**. Swan's the real last name." My eyes bulged out and I started chocking. "Isabella Marie Swan," my mother answered.

"I prefer Bella," I heard Bella's voice coming from the kitchen. My head snapped in her direction and my jaw dropped. This time I couldn't hold myself up and fell to the floor, my eyes locked on Bella… And on the little blanket wrapped bundle in her arms…

 **Bella POV**

Once we split up, Esme and I picked up the pace a little to reach the house. It still took us another 10 minutes to reach the long driveway through the underbrush. "I think we should come up on the house from the side of the garage so no one has a chance to see us," Esme told me. I nodded and we shifted course to the garage, staying in the cover of the trees. Once we reached the garage, Esme stepped out first to check if the coast was clear. Once she was satisfied that it was, she waved me forward. I stepped out with the cars following behind me. Earlier I had put them on silent mode so no one would hear them coming. Esme led me to the side of the garage where there was a garden hose. I took the stuff to clean the toys out of the trunk of the toy SUV where they were kept and Esme and I made quick work of hosing them down and cleaning the mud off of them, particularly the tires so that they could come inside. Once the cars were clean and dry, we went in the garage. We'd agreed earlier to leave the cars in the garage for a minute before bringing them inside, and Cam and Cat were staying with them to watch their siblings. I took off my wrist controllers and put them in the briefcase I carried, taking out the RC controllers at the same time, which I handed to Esme to hide. She would give them to me when it was time to bring them in. Esme gave me one final hug before she headed inside. I would signal her when I was ready by scratching at the door. Then we'd spring the surprise. I listen to what was going on in the living room with the lesser portion of my mind as I mentally prepared myself for what I was about to do. It wasn't easy to get my mind around the fact that I was about to introduce my babies to their father, a father who, for all intents and purposes, had been raped and his seed stolen to breed me, an unwilling father for all intents and purposes. _**"You gave him exactly what he wanted and he will want them all,"**_ Alice had said, but would he really? Could he get passed what was done to him to bring this about?

" _ **Edward was crushed by their disappearance. We've tried everything we could to find them but have not succeeded. I hear him cry about it when he thinks no one can hear him. We've tried to comfort him, to keep his hope alive, but it's slowly fading. He wants them, but we don't know where they are,"**_ Rose had told me. He did want them, but could I risk their hearts if he changed his mind? I looked at my newborns sleeping peacefully in the car wrapped in their baby blankets. How could anyone not fall in love with them immediately, I did after about 5 seconds. I smiled to myself and made my decision, same with their elder siblings. They deserved a father and so I would take a chance and hope it turned out alright. I then had a battle as to who to pick up and take in with me. I could only carry one and it would be the best way before presenting the entire brood. Renesmee's chocolate brown eyes opened at that moment and looked at me before smiling and falling back to sleep. She shifted herself a bit before settling back down. I looked into those doe eyes set in a face that resembled his so well and knew who it would be, our first-born daughter. Daddy's little girl would soften him up for her brothers and sisters. Gently I picked up Renesmee from the car and wrapped her pink and white blanket a little tighter around her before settling her in my arms. Once I was sure I had a good hold of her and wasn't holding her too tight, I went to the door and scratched it, giving the signal.

"Actually, we engaged in a rousing game of detective while we were gone," I heard Alice say. I could hear that she was about to burst in her excitement.

"What?" Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper and Edward asked in confusion.

The girls giggled. I heard footsteps and imagined it was Esme walking over to Edward. "Remember we said we had a surprise?" she asked. I heard the shift in the air, which told me they nodded in assent. "Well, we discovered something while we were out. Something important. Edward, what was the name?"

"What name?" he asked.

"The name of the girl who survived?"

"I.M. Swan," he answered. I could hear the uncertainty in his voice as well as the pain. I took my cue and silently opened the door and walked in to the kitchen, hiding behind the dividing wall, which separated the kitchen from the rest of the open living room and waited for my cue.

Esme nodded. "We know who she is," she said. I saw Edward's knees buckle and knew that if Esme hadn't been holding his shoulders he would have been on the floor. I could see the hope and fear in his eyes as well as his pain. I wanted nothing more in that moment, that to take that pain and fear from his eyes. Angels shouldn't be in pain.

" **WHAT?** " he cried out, confusion plain in his voice. His voice was chocked with emotion.

" **I.M. SWAN**. Swan's the real last name." I stepped out from behind the dividing wall; no one except Rose and Alice saw me and waited. Edward's eyes bulged out and he started chocking. "Isabella Marie Swan," Esme finished and that was my cue.

"I prefer Bella," I spoke up letting everyone know I was there. Edward's head snapped in my direction and I saw his jaw drop open in shock. He was so shocked he couldn't hold himself up any longer, even with Esme's hands still on his shoulders and fell to the floor on his knees, his eyes locked on me… And on the little blanket wrapped bundle in my arms… I pretended to be unfazed, by his reaction and calmly walked over to him, careful not to shake the baby in my arms. Out of the corner of my eye, I took in the 5 people unknown to me and wondered which one was after my man. _**Wait, my man?**_ I asked myself. _**Yes he was, if he would have me. I'm not quite ready to move on yet, but I do love him, I always have. If he will take the broken pieces that are me, then I'm his forever and always.**_ Esme let Edward go and stepped away to stand beside Carlisle, closing his mouth at the same time. I wanted so bad to laugh at their shock. Esme had been right, it was ironic how they had spent so much time and effort to find me, and I was right under their noses the whole time. Rose and Alice also closed their husband's gaping mouths. They had grins so wide their faces were in danger of cracking. I knelt in front of Edward and took his hand in mine pulling it towards me. "Happy belated birthday, Edward," I said and tucked my Nessie in to his arms.


	10. Chapters 9 - 16

_**To all my loyal readers.**_

 _ **I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post again. Life has just gotten away from me. Plus I did decide to be a bit mean. To tell you all the truth, this story is actually nearly complete. Only 4 maybe 5 chapters if I decide to break one apart and an Epilogue left. And I know what you are all wondering. How can this be possible when this is only chapter nine? Well the truth is. It's not. This story has been sitting in my computer for some time and it has been nearly finished long before I decided to finally post it. Also this isn't chapter 9. I've decided that you all have waited long enough… too long really but to tell you the truth even I had forgotten how far along the story actually was until I actually sat down and re-read to edit what I had to post. This is actually chapters 9 through 16. I am currently working on chapter 17 but I had thought I was much earlier in the story. Just goes to show you how much you can accomplish in a sleepless night and how much you forget you accomplished. If you noticed any typos or other errors please let me know, most of this portion was written in the middle of the night when I was sleep deprived so even though I have corrected it, there may still be some errors. If you notice any let me know where they are so I can correct them and re-upload the chapter.**_

 _ **Enjoy, but my next post for this story will a little while in coming since I want to focus on Heart By Heart for a little bit and hopefully get closer to the long awaited reunion, not to mention the Mortal Instruments story I have on the works which I'd like to get a few more chapters on before finally posting it. As for A Love Like No Other, since it has been so long since I worked on it I am currently in the process of re-reading it so I can take up the series again, and yes, it is still a series but I have chosen to make it a Trilogy as my previous idea of 5 to 7 books ended up being ridiculous for the plot I wrote. So the next two installments are already in the works and their names are Super/Moon and I'm debating the title for the last. It's between At Worlds End to the Light and In Requiem of Light. Please Let me know what you think I will post a poll on this soon to help me decide.**_

 _ **Enjoy**_

 _ **Sailor FoxFire**_

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Family**

 **Edward POV**

 **I had to be dreaming.** There was no other possible explanation for this. This had to be a dream. Bella could not be standing in front of me with a baby in her arms. She could not be walking towards me careful not to jostle the sleeping baby. She could not be kneeling in front of me where I was sprawled on my knees and taking my hand in hers. "Happy belated birthday, Edward," she said. It wasn't until I felt her tuck the warm little body into my arms that I was jolted from my frozen shock. I shook my head and blinked my eyes to try to ascertain if this was real. I was still unsure, but dream or no dream, feeling that little body in my arms was like touching heaven with my fingers, no it was better. There was no description for how happy I felt in that simple moment. I felt Bella's small hands on my face and looked into her red eyes. Those eyes that had captivated me for so long where the final proof I needed to know that this was real. I didn't know what to do with myself. What do you do when someone hands you heaven in the palm of your hand? Without thinking, I found my mouth pressed to Bella's. She hesitated for a split second, but then kissed me back. It was a gentle innocent close-mouth kiss, but it was like a jolt of some addictive chemical was shot straight into my nervous system. Like searing lava was being poured into my dry and dead veins and I felt as if my heart had restarted with the jolt of electricity that sizzled between us at the touch of our lips. And she was eager for the touch as well. Though she'd been hesitant for a second and I had been about to pull away and apologize, scolding myself for pushing her after everything she'd been through, her hesitation only lasted the small part of a moment and then her hands were wrapped tightly in my hair and she kissed me back eagerly. I was gentle with her and didn't push things further, letting her dictate how far she was willing and able to go right now. The kiss was the best thing I'd ever felt in my life and I would have been more than happy to remain in just exactly that position for the rest of time, but the shifting little body against both of our chests jolted us both out of the loving haze, reminding us that we weren't alone. As we pulled apart I looked into Bella's eyes, though now a different color that the chocolate I had wanted to drown in, they were still like clear windows into her silent mind. I read the happiness in them, the reluctance to pull apart, but also the uncertainty and pain. I wanted so bad to take away her pain, to erase all that had ever hurt her. My hand seemed to have a mind of it's own and reached out to caress her cheek, it was so soft beneath my fingertips; it pleased me greatly when I saw the shine in her eyes, which had been hidden behind layers of pain, sparkle once more and the pain faded away at my touch.

"' **BOUT TIME YOU TWO CAME UP FOR AIR!** " Emmett yelled. The baby in my arms shifted restlessly and whimpered at the loud noise. Emmett had stupidly awoken her. Bella and I growled at him as she began to cry, it was like the mewling of I tiny fragile kitten and it pulled at my heartstrings and made my chest constrict. It was not a sound she should ever utter. Bella took the little girl from my hands, or at least I thought she was a girl given the pink and white blanket that she was wrapped in and I felt like an idiot for not having even looked at my child and not even knowing what it was, and started purring at her and cooing soothing nothings into her tiny ear as she rocked her. Within a moment the baby quieted down and fell back asleep, and I felt another jolt of pain at not having been able to soothe her as well as feeling amazed at Bella's ability to soothe her back to a peaceful sleep so quickly. I watched as the little head burrowed into Bella's chest, pressing tighter against the hard body of her mother resting her little head on the soft mound of her mother's breast. I was startled by the angelic little beauty that I saw. The blanket had fallen off with the baby's movements and I noticed the little pink and red dress that clad her tiny body for a moment before Bella wrapped her back up and knew her to be a girl from that. She was glorious, the most absolute beauty I'd ever seen. I saw her little tiny face scrunch up and then her tiny bow-shaped shell pink lips open wide in a yawn before closing again as she burrowed further into her mother's body. Her eyelids were a delicate pale lavender like the clouds at dawn. Her little nose was like a tiny button on her beautiful face. Her skin was like backlit alabaster, but with a pink flush on her cheeks and her hair was in delicate ringlets like strands of bronze falling in a shower around her tiny cherubic heart shaped face. I was so shocked by how much she resembled me that I was frozen.

"Breathe Edward," I heard Bella say as she reached out and closed my mouth. "And close your mouth before your yaw dislodges," Bella said with an impish smile. I watched her stand, only then realizing that we were still on the floor. It was also then that I was able to hear the teetering around us and remembered that we were actually in the living room with our family sitting and watching our display and not on cloud 90,000 like I had felt we'd been in moments before. I quickly shook my head and got up. Bella handed me the baby again and I felt her little head burrow against my chest and my heart felt like it was going to burst at that moment. "She's a little snuggle bunny, but she moves around a lot in her sleep so you better keep a good grip on her and sit down. She might make you drop her otherwise."

"Huh," was all I could say. My brain capacity seemed to be nonexistent at the moment. Bella cracked up as she pushed me to sit on the overstuffed chair behind me while the family roared in laughter at my confusion, the baby shifted restlessly in my arms at the noise. I started rocking her and murmuring things at her to try to soothe her. Startled, she opened her eyes wide and locked her soft chocolate gaze with my own golden one. Those soft chocolate pools, so like her mother's had been, pulled me into them and drowned the little reason I still had left in my body. I could read the confusion and curiosity in her eyes as she stared at me. And then I was floored by the thing I heard next.

" _ **Mama?"**_ I heard an angelic voice ask. Only it wasn't a voice, it was a mind, it was her mind. _**"Mama?"**_ the baby asked again becoming scared and looking for the comfort of her mother. She was getting scared because she wasn't sure who I was and wanted her mother to soothe her.

"Right here Renesmee," Bella answered.

Renesmee, Renesmee, **RENESMEE**. Her name was so beautiful and so unique just like her. Renesmee looked towards her mother's voice and smiled. _ **Mama here. No one scary coos mama's here.**_ I heard her think. Once that thought passed through her mind soothing away her fear she became curious once more. _**"Mama, who is he?"**_ she asked.

"Your father, baby," Bella answered.

"You can hear her?" I asked, it was the first coherent sentence I was able to utter since they came in.

 _ **Oooooh pretty voice. Daddy pretty voice.**_ I heard her think and my heart felt like it was going to burst; she liked the sound of my voice.

"She can project her thoughts, they all can. So yes, I can hear her," Bella answered. Renesmee yawned in my arms again and burrowed against me once more. She was still very sleepy. I started to hum a lullaby for her and she was out like a light. She burrowed further into me and flipped her little body sideways in my hands pressing herself against my chest more firmly. The movement, however, was a bit startling and I was glad that Bella'd warned me to hold her tight because I might have dropped her. "Told you so," Bella said. "It's better than her brother though, he'll grab a hold of anything he can and suckle it in his sleep, and that boy has a very tight grip. Hmm, now wonder where that came from?" she said with a mischievous smile. I wished that I could blush as our family pointed at me and Bella's eyes locked with mine. Wait brother? Right, there were 7 more babies beside her. I started looking around startled trying to locate them. "Relax, I'll bring them in, in a minute, there are a lot of them you know." I looked up at Bella again and saw my mother hand her a pair of RC controllers?, before she headed back out to the garage. I looked at my mother confused but she just smiled and looked back at the garage.

 **Bella POV**

I was startled when Edward kissed me, and I felt scared of the touch but it only lasted one second before I felt as if lava were poring into my veins and I found myself responding to his kiss. It was so soothing and felt so good, like nothing could ever hurt me, like I was on top of the world and I wanted more. If Renesmee hadn't moved when she did, reminding us both of the baby in between us, we probably would have continued and I would have tried for more. As I took the controllers from Esme, I surreptitiously looked at the visiting vampires. I saw amusement in most of the faces. There was only one whose smile was fake. The strawberry blond goddess. So this was Tanya then? I felt what little self-esteem I had left plummet further. How could I ever even hope to compete with that definition of beauty? But I caught sight of Edward as I headed out to the kitchen and read his eyes. His beautiful eyes were gleaming with love and happiness as he looked at me before looking back down at our baby. I remembered the searing kiss he'd given me, how gentle yet eager he'd been and felt the lava shoot down my veins once more. As I caught sight of Tanya again out of the corner of my eye I felt a little smug. She'd been chasing him for years and he never once paid attention to her, but me… well me he was eager for me if his kiss was anything to go by. It was doing wonders for my ego. I walked out to the garage and passed the RC controllers over the recognizer before handing the control for the SUV to Cameron as I took control of the Vanquish. Gently, I used the controller to ease the car into the house, with the SUV following behind. Cam and Cat walked in beside me as we followed the toys.

 **Esme POV**

Happily I left Edward's side and went to my husband to watch as Bella approached Edward. Poor Carlisle looked so shocked. I closed his mouth gently since he seemed unable to. I watched with my heart bursting in gladness as Bella placed the baby in my flabbergasted son's arms and saw Edward kiss her. I worried Bella wasn't ready for that when I saw her short moment of hesitation before she responded and felt like shouting for joy when I saw her respond. She was beginning to heal and Edward would be instrumental in that, and in return she would complete my son and make him happy. Finally my boy had found his mate. I laughed along with everyone as my poor Edward was rendered a babbling mess of a boy by his mate and daughter. It was so sweet and so hilarious at the same time. I watched my son soothe his daughter back to sleep with tears of joy brimming in my eyes, he would be such an amazing father and I was so proud of him. I looked to my husband and could read in his eyes and grin that he felt the same way. I handed Bella the controllers for the other toy cars as she headed out to get them and saw her assessing our cousins. Part of it I knew was her maternal instinct assessing for dangers to her young, but I also knew that she was looking for Tanya. I looked at her to see the fake smile on her face and anger in her eyes. She'd been chasing Edward for so long and yet he'd never once been interested, but now here was the proof of just whom he was interested in. I could read from her posture that Bella also recognized who she was and saw her self-esteem take a nosedive, before she looked at Edward again. His loving gaze seemed to soothe away her fears and when she turned back around I could see smugness shining in her eyes. Tanya after all was a beautiful woman and I knew it would help her self-esteem go up to know that Edward was only interested in her. I shared in that smugness, as any mother would. Because my new child was perfect for my beautiful son. I pitied Tanya since she seemed unable to accept that someone just didn't find her attractive and resolved myself to watch out for my daughter. I was worried Tanya might try something on Bella while she was still so fragile, but I would protect her. I looked to my other two daughters and read the determination in their eyes as well, they had seen all I saw and they would watch out for their baby sister.

 **Edward POV**

As I looked at my daughter, I caught the thoughts of my mother and sisters. I, too, was concerned that Tanya would try something; she just wasn't a woman who could take loosing with dignity. I resolved to do as them, and watch out for her. I heard an electric motor and wheels rolling on the kitchen floor and turned expectantly to see what was coming. It had been strange that Esme had had those controllers and had given them to Bella when she went to retrieve the other children. I looked up at the sound with everyone else and felt myself start laughing at the sight. From around the corner division wall, I saw a tiny blue sports car, a miniature of my Vanquish, coming into the living room followed by a black miniature SUV. Behind them walked Bella and two kids who looked like they were between 5-7 years of age, a little girl and a little boy. The boy had an RC controller in his hands while Bella held the other and it was clear that they were using them to drive the cars in. We all burst out laughing as the cars slowly approach my chair. When they stopped, the lights flashed and beeped making us all laugh. My laughter died down quickly though as I saw just what was in those toys. In the mini Vanquish were the 7 most beautiful infants I had ever seen sleeping in their baby seats, with one baby seat empty where I was sure Renesmee went. They looked like me, like Bella, and startling of all, my father Carlisle. I didn't need to be told that these were my children, and my heart was bursting for joy as I drank in the sight. I could have quite happily died in that moment and wondered if so much joy could possibly give me a heart attack. I tore my eye, reluctantly away from the babies to look inside the SUV. 5 toddlers lay sleeping in their seats. I was confused by them since I knew Bella and I had only had 8 babies, and looked to Bella for an answer. She sat beside me on the arm of the sofa after picking up one of the toddlers from the SUV, a lovely blond boy with long curly hair who'd been a bit fussy. In that moment I wanted them too. My siblings teased me for being a greedy little boy and I really was, but I really wanted them for myself too. I saw the little girl and boy that had walked in beside her sit on the floor at her feet. Esme, Rose and Alice went to the SUV and picked up the 4 toddler, holding them in their arms.

Bella laughed, "I have a bit of a mother hen complex. I met the bigger children two days after the eightuplets were born. These 5," she pointed to the sleeping toddlers. "Are type 4 hybrids, just like the babies. Esme told me you were given information about hybrids when they came. And these two," she pointed at the boy and girl at her feet, whom I noticed had golden eyes, "Are Immortal Children"

" **WHAT**?" Our cousins screamed. It was then I remembered the story of how the sisters had lost their mother because of an immortal child. Kate and Irina jumped up from their seats and backed up as far away as they could, looking around for a way out. Eleazar threw himself in front of Carmen, and Tanya looked as if she would attack. As quick and as gently as I could, I stood from my chair, placed the baby back in the car and stood in front of my family. Rose, Esme, and Alice backed away from our cousins and hid behind their husbands holding on tightly to the babies in their arms while my brothers and father crouched protectively in front of them.

"Enough," Bella called out. "It's not what you think. The Volturi know all about them and let them live," Bella said. The boy stood up and came around my hip holding out a jewelry box, but staying half hidden behind me. Good thinking, had he stepped into the open he might have been attacked. Inside this box on a multicolored pillow rested a golden sun pendant engraved with the crest of the Volturi in black with white edging detail. I knew that seal and I knew that they did too, it was a protection mark, the Volturi had let them live. The little girl with blond curls also came up behind me holding out the same box with the same pendant resting inside. Our cousins relaxed slightly but were still very wary. I pushed both kids gently back to Bella, just in case. "The Volturi let them live because they have extraordinary self-control. Something unheard of in any other Immortal Child. It is unknown when they were created or by whom. Their memories from before getting to Volterra are sketch at best." As Bella told the story the children thought back on those years showing me the story and proving their mother's words. It was how I learned that their names were Cameron David Swan and Caitlyn Ann Marie Swan as named by their mother when Bella adopted them, giving them a full name where before they has only been called Cameron and Caitlyn because Aro was kind enough to give them a name since they didn't know their real ones, much like Alice. "They don't remember what their real names are, or who their human family was of who made them. They don't even know how long they've really been in existence. The Volturi estimated that they had been around for at least 50-100 years before coming to Volterra 150 years ago. They came to the Volturi entirely of their own free will and under their own power. They were alone, no one accompanied them. They'd heard of the ban on what they were but don't know how and turned themselves in to the Volturi, right at their doorstep."

Everyone began to calm down and sat back in their places as Bella told the story, I relaxed enough to sit as well but stayed on guard in case of trouble. "Because if this display Aro became curious and tested them. They have amazing self-control. Even a human bleeding in their hands will not make them go crazy. That display prompted Aro to spare their lives. The main reason for the ban is because the children that had been made were impossible to control, but Cameron and Caitlyn proved that they could do just that and so were spared. Later it was discovered that, apart from their control, they also find human blood mildly repulsive. It made it very hard for them to feed so Aro introduced them to the vegetarian lifestyle which Carlisle had shown him years earlier. Animal blood, to them, smells the same as human smells to most vampires, while humans, to them, smell like animals, edible but not irresistible. They've never strayed once from the diet, even while living in Volterra surrounded by traditional vampires."

I was impressed, and could see the gleam in my father's eyes; he was impressed too, very impressed and curious. _ **I do believe they just earned a place in their grandfather's heart. Wait, grandfather?**_ I looked at the faces of Cameron and Caitlyn as they sat at Bella's feet once more. Cameron looked into my eyes and smiled at me, showing me his memories of how he and his sister had lived in Volterra. Poor kids had been treated as living dolls to be played with and nothing more. After their novelty had worn of, they were pretty much cast aside. Some guard members, over the years had abused them, in much the same way as Bella was abused, though Bella did not know this, Cam and Cat had kept that detail from her as they told her about themselves. More times than either he and his sister cared to count they had been raped, beaten, toyed with, whatever amused those monsters. I swallowed back the growls as I continued to watch the story while Bella told the others about how she'd met and adopted them. For many years Cameron and Caitlyn had suffered in Volterra in silence, too afraid of the guards to go to Aro for aid. One day, a little over 10 years ago, Aro, concerned about their strange behavior, had read their minds and learned of what was going on. Sanguine and sadistic though he may be, Aro had been repulsed by what had been done and ordered that the vampires who'd hurt them be executed. From there on out he kept an eye out for them, not like a parent, but like a friend. About a week later a vampire came to Volterra. He had a gift similar to Alice's though not as accurate. Aro asked him to look into their future as a test. The vampire told them that their time in Volterra was done and that it was time for them to leave and go find their mother, the woman who would adopt them and care for them as a mother for all eternity. Aro agreed to let them go for he feared that if he didn't, that they might become just like all other immortal children and he was reluctant to destroy such unique children. Another little boy and girl, Caius children born many years earlier when he cheated on his wife Athenodora and impregnated a human girl just to see if the stories were true, had been brought to Volterra as well and the 4 had quickly taken to each other as siblings. But Achilles and Briseis were in great danger in Volterra because of Athenodora and her jealousy. The vampire solved the problem by saying that all 4 were to go find her together, that they all belonged to her. Aro agreed and let them go giving them the jewelry boxes they had shown to help protect them.

For 10 years the children had traveled all over the world searching for their mother. Along the way they found the last 3 toddlers, Lestat, Akasha and Tarquin whose mother was a human who'd loved a vampire. She wasn't the one, they knew as this path had been foretold to them, and that it only meant that they were to gather their 3 younger siblings to also take to their mother when they found her. Katherine was dying of cancer, her mate had been killed to save their lives, and her children would be left alone. After she died, the 7 of them traveled around the world, unearthing the cashes of books that had belonged to an ancient coven that Katherine's mate had belonged to, before finding their way to Romania where they met up with the Romanians and stayed with them to wait for their mother to come get them, which she did. Cameron then showed me how things were after they found their mother, and everything that had happened to Bella that he was aware of. I felt guilty for not being there to protect her, but I was here now and no one would hurt her again. I saw the same thought run through his mind and saw just how protective of her he was, unsurprising considering how long he had waited to find her. In that moment I felt as if my heart had reached out and grabbed him and the other children. They would be mine, Bella loved them and they loved Bella and that's all I needed. I picked Caitlyn up of the carpet and set her on my lap as I ruffled Cameron's hair. My actions didn't go unnoticed by anyone and my family was beaming at me in return. They knew I'd fallen in love with them too and that I'd adopted them.

 _ **Greedy little boy,**_ Alice teased me. _**Happy belated birthday brother dear and congratulations.**_ I smiled at my sister. There must really be a God and He must really be merciful on us in giving a monster like me a dream like this. I looked at Bella, my beautiful Bella whom I had waited for, for so long, and then at all 15 of my children and could think of only one thing. _**God if this is a dream, please, please, please don't ever let me wake up from it again.**_

 **Chapter 10: To Forget Old Sorrows**

 **Bella POV**

I saw the looks that Cameron and Caitlyn were exchanging with Edward, and I had a feeling that they were showing him their memories. I saw the smile on Edward's face as he picked Caitlyn up off the floor and the way he ruffled Cameron's hair and knew what had happened. They had won his heart just as surely as they'd stolen mine and he'd adopted them too. I smiled widely at this. Alice had been right. He would want them too. I looked over at his cousins, their reactions earlier still had me concerned and so I was wary of them. They seemed calm enough, but I couldn't be sure; Tanya in particular worried me, her eyes were still very hostile. I resolved to remain vigilant until they were gone. After a few minutes, Alice reminded me to introduce the children to the family who'd not met them yet. They were all still asleep and so I pointed each one out. I could see the gleam in the men's eyes as they beheld them, Edward's most especially. They were very happy. I looked my babies over and saw that they would be out for some time still. They didn't look like they were very comfortable sleeping as they were, Rose, Alice and Esme had placed Achilles, Briseis, Lestat, Akasha and Tarquin back in the car when they went to the kitchen. Edward took my hand jolting me from my thoughts. I looked in his eyes and he looked back at me, asking me with his eyes what was wrong. I smiled at him, showing him nothing was wrong and explained. "They'll be out for some time and I don't think they're very comfortable sleeping in the toy car," I said, pointing at the kids in the SUV. Edward looked at them as well and nodded in agreement.

"We could put them in your room for now as it has a big bed. I'd put them in mine, but I don't really have anywhere to put them to sleep in. Come on, let's take them upstairs," Edward said as he stood, placing Caitlyn in his place. He went to pick up Lestat but I put my hand on his arm to stop him.

"There's an easier way." He looked at me confused. I grabbed the RC controllers and passed it over the recognizers to turn the cars on, Edward laughed a little. "Fun I know. Ever played with one of these?" I asked him indicating the controllers. He nodded and I handed him the controller for the toy Vanquish. "The cars have capabilities to move in different terrains no matter the obstacles. Including stairs."

"You're kidding right?" he asked.

"Nope," I said and used my controller to move the SUV and drive it around the living room furniture to get to the stairs. I walked behind it, showing Edward the features of the controller as I did. I was also well aware that my earlier statement had made us the center of attention and that everyone was watching us and waiting to see what I meant. Edward drove the toy Vanquish right behind us as I showed him. When the SUV got to the stairs I pressed the red button on the top right hand side of the controller. The mini chassis lifted up on the hydraulics lifting the front tires as well. Once that was done the back tires drove forward and placed the front tires on the steps. I pressed the blue button beside the red one and the back tires sped forward against the bottom step pushing the front tires up to the next step and climbing the first step. I heard the gasps of everyone including Edward. And kept pressing the blue button to make the SUV climb as I explained. "They have hydraulics installed that allow them to move the chassis to a more vertical angle, from there its all a matter of speed to get the tires to climb steps. There's a small bump as they climb up but the kids say it's hard to feel. I'll show you how to bring them back down after we tuck them in," I told Edward as we watched the SUV climb the stairs to the second floor. Once it was up, I ran up behind it and proceeded to drive it up to the third floor landing and a bit of a ways down the hall to make room for the other car. Then I ran back downstairs to help Edward. Once I was beside him he repeated the process with the mini Vanquish and then we drove the toys into my bedroom. He helped me take the kids out of the SUV and then tuck them in the bed I'd been laying in, which I noticed had been changed into a pale lavender set where when I awoke I noticed it had been cream and white. I parked the toy Vanquish beside the bed telling Edward that the babies would be fine sleeping in it until we got their beds set up.

Then I took the controller for the SUV, now empty and drove it out of the room to show him how to bring it back down and put it in the garage to charge since the bigger kids only really used it to ride in when we went somewhere. Once we were at the landing, I started showing him. "To bring both toys back down, you use the yellow button on the controller. It opens the suspension up and lowers the undercarriage and lifts the back wheels high." I pressed the buttons, which were on the top left hand side of the controller, and showed him. "Then you use the green button to make the front wheels push of and the back wheels lock down until the car's moves and the front wheel are locked. Once that happens, the back wheels move to take a step, and then you just repeat it until you get down. Remember, Red and Blue to go up, Yellow and Green to go down. In that order, don't confuse them or the car might slip on the stairs and crash. They demonstrated that on the instruction video and it wasn't pretty." Edward nodded and we followed the toy down the stairs with everyone watching on in amazement.

"Is there anything that those toys can't do, Bella?" Rose asked me as we got downstairs, laughing along with everyone else.

"Change diapers. But I'm keeping my eye out for that model and when it comes I'm getting it. After all the kids will be in diapers for quite some time still," I told her with a wink.

"Ah yes sweetheart, but you have that model already. What do you think Edward's for?" Esme said laughing. "He's actually very good at changing diapers too. And do it willingly, well mostly willingly."

"Good to know," I said with a smile.

"Thanks a lot, Mom," Edward grumbled, but there was a small half smile on his face.

"Good looking, great with kids and willing to change diapers?" I asked placing a hand on his chest and making a wide crooked grin spread on his face. I could not see how an angel would be more beautiful. "Thanks a lot, Esme," I said, smiling at her.

"My pleasure, dear," Esme smiled.

"Hey I helped you know," Carlisle grumbled good-naturedly.

"With what? I had to train you as well. And I still have to put a flaming torch to your head to get you to change one diaper. The boys hate doing it, but they do it willingly, or at least without a lot of arm-twisting. But you, a grown man over 300 years old, run screaming when you see a dirty diaper," Esme laughed at her husband, pushing his chest lightly.

"Him, too? Eleazar leaves smoke behind him when diapers need changing, useless male," Carmen grumbled laughing.

"Useless, you know what I'm good for!" Eleazar grumbled laughingly.

"And that would be what exactly. And if you're thinking of what I think you're thinking of, I could take care of that all by myself, darling," Carmen laughed at him.

"I know, Carlisle too." Esme laughed with Carmen. This was a lot of fun, teasing the men. "But my little boys don't, probably why all the girls are after them, married or not."

" **MINE!** " Rose and Alice yelled grabbing onto their husbands tightly, prompting them to smile smugly and puff their chests out at the other men in the room.

"They're not saying we're useless," Emmett teased his father elbowing him in the ribs jokingly. "Just the old men."

I decided, then and there, to stake my claim, especially since I saw the predatory look on Tanya's face. "And this is mine," I said grabbing Edward as well. The smile on his face was blindingly bright.

"All yours," Edward said, looking deeply into my eyes. I so badly wanted to kiss him.

" **KISSY, KISSY, KISSY!** " Emmett just to go and ruin the moment.

"Hey, kids in the room!" And there was Jasper who tried to cover Cam and Cat's eyes jokingly.

"We're over 150 years old, Jasper. We've seen even more gross stuff than our parents kissing!" Cam laughed.

"But not by much," Cat finished.

"I've got women after me too! All the bloody time, Esme," Carlisle argued.

"Only because you're really cute, honey. If they had a clue what I have to deal with… They'd run screaming," Esme laughed and Carlisle grumbled.

"You married me," Carlisle shot back.

"Yeah, momentary lapse in judgment. I'm stuck with you now. Oh well, I have all eternity to break you, I suppose," Esme giggled at her husband.

"Good luck with that Esme. I hear old war horses are very stubborn," Edward and I said together. Emmett, Rose, Alice and Jasper second our statements.

"Hey, whose side are you guys on?" Carlisle grumbled.

"I like Mommy better!" we all said at the same time sticking our tongues out at him.

" **TRAITOROUS PUPS!** Why did I have kids anyway? I should have eaten you when I had the chance!" Carlisle yelled jokingly.

" **MOMMY!** Daddy's being mean!" we all yelled.

"Carlisle, leave the kids alone," she shot back, playing along.

"Wait a minute. How did we turn this from a question about the toys, to male-bashing-day?"

"It's not male bashing day. Em, Jazz and I got praised, Carlisle. It's just a Carlisle-bashing-day, Dad," Edward teased.

"And it's always a Carlisle-bashing-day in the Cullen household, particularly when you run screaming when diapers have to be changed," Emmett added.

"Here, here!" Jasper called out.

"Ok, so how did I get mixed up with him?" Eleazar asked.

"Help out more often, and maybe you wouldn't be," Carmen shot back.

"Alright, alright. That's enough teasing for now," Esme said and we all laughed as the subject was changed. I drove the SUV out to the garage and parked it against the back wall and connected the charger to it before plugging it in, showing Edward how to do it. Once that was done we headed inside, but when I was going through the door, Edward grabbed my hand to stop me. I could see in his eyes that he wanted to talk. I nodded and he took my hand and led me outside.

"What Edward?" I asked after a few minutes of walking in silence. He led me to a large outcropping of rocks and sat down pulling me gently to sit beside him.

"Bella, there's something I've been wondering and you don't have to answer I you don't want to, but I need to ask."

"What is it Edward?"

"Why Bella? Why did you do it? I just can't understand that," he whispered brokenly.

I sighed, "I knew someone would ask me sooner or later. The kids did and I answered how I could without scaring them, but I didn't tell them everything." I shook my head. "I don't really have an answer for that. In hindsight, I knew I had other options. I guess Charlie's betrayal hurt me the most, more than anything Phil put me through, more than the men that he sold me to. I didn't really know Charlie; growing up I only saw him once a year but he always seemed like a kind man to me, he was so caring and so careful when I spent my summers with him. I didn't lie to Renée when I said I wanted to spend more time with my father. I had wanted that for a long time. He was my father after all, what kid wouldn't. At first he seemed happy to have me here; he even bought me a truck. I didn't mind his being strict and expecting me to take care of the house. Parents are supposed to be strict and he was a man, he really wasn't programmed to do housework so I never minded. For a while everything was fine. We didn't talk, neither of us was what you would call verbose and he was always busy at the station so I spent most of my time alone, which I didn't mind either. We were well suited to living together. Then when I forgot to make dinner when he came home, he turned on me. I wasn't just reading that day. I was also working up the courage to tell him. I was going to tell him what Phil had done to me. I'd wanted to put him in prison and I knew Charlie would help with that. But I was very, very nervous and scared. The one time I'd tried that before, I ended up in the hospital so it wasn't an easy decision to make. I started reading to try to calm myself and lost track of the time. It was such a silly thing to get angry about since I could easily have had the leftover of the day before on the table within 5 minutes or taken 30 to make something. I'm not sure what really set him off. But then a silly thing had given Phil his first excuse. I actually think he was taking out his pain and anger over my mother leaving him when I was a baby on me. He's never gotten over her, and if you went into his house you'd see it, it's almost like he's obsessed with her. His house is exactly the same as it was when she still lived there 17 years ago. He even has some of her clothes she left behind in the closet still. That night was the final betrayal. It was one thing for my father to beat me, but rape, his own flesh and blood? It made me feel horrible, especially when he tricked me into thinking he had changed, that he could love me. I'd needed him so much, and he betrayed me. I couldn't see where to turn after that. I didn't really think it through beyond deciding not to leave a note since no one would care. I hesitated for a bit though. I guess I was waiting for something to stop me, but nothing did. I don't think I really made the decision to make the cut, it was like my hand moved on his own and I couldn't, and didn't really want to, stop it."

Edward had wrapped his arms around my body some time ago and it was only then I noticed the trembling in my body. "I didn't want to stop it because if my own father couldn't love me. I didn't see how anyone else could. But bleeding to death takes a while and I had time to think, to act." I looked at him and revealed something no one else knew. "I left the bathroom with my bleeding arms and soaking wet from the tub. With bloody hands I took out my diary and with a black pen I wrote down in it everything that had happened that night, staining it in my blood. Before, Rosalie told me to take my revenge on them, but I had done that before I died. The diary, whose pages are stained in my blood, holds all the details on everything that happened to me since Phil's first assault. It's in my room under my bed beneath a broken floorboard. I doubt Charlie has found it yet since I cleaned the blood afterwards before going back to the bathroom. I wrote how Charlie stood over me and forced me to cut my arms, when I refused he took the knife in his hand, which had gloves on to keep from leaving fingerprints and cut me himself before throwing me in the bath and leaving me there to bleed to death. It's not true, but it may as well have been. I wrote that I managed to get out of the tub and not knowing what else to do I wrote that final message and hid it."

"Then we'll go and get it. Take it to the police. I've seen cases where the diaries of people are used as evidence in court against them. Even if the case isn't won, we can expose them for the monsters that they are. We can take it to the press even, I'm sure they will have a field day with it."

"How do we explain it getting into their hands?"

"Thieves with a heart. We'll break into the house and make it look like a robbery. We'll take the diary and some things to validate the robbery cover. Then we'll send the diary to the district attorney's office with a note explaining how it was found and that the one who found it sent it to help that little girl get justice. We'll send a copy to the press with the same note and a caption that explains that the original diary is in the hands of the district attorney's office and ask them to use the power of the press to help that murdered little girl get justice and rest in peace."

I nodded, but then we were startled by the sound of a branch breaking. Alice stepped out into the clearing we were sitting in with Rosalie, Emmett and Jasper behind her. "I saw what you said. We can go tonight. The chief is staying in La Push with his friends for a few days and the house is empty. I can make the copy of the diary once we have it and send it off. There's a reporter in Seattle, Tom Evans, he will surely help. And his article on it will be scandalous and will force the district attorney to look into it. The diary and Charlie's odd behavior is all the proof we'll need. He'll deny it of course, but when he's put on trial, which will be televised to every major news channel in the country, he will crack on the stand and confess how he hurt you. He will deny that he murdered you but he will be convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection. I can see that he will only be given one chance to appeal to the federal court but they will turn him down and order that no appeal be admissible on his behalf. By this time next year he will die on death row and with everyone knowing the monster that he is. Phil will also be tried and the men he sold you to will testify against him in exchange for immunity. He will be convicted and sentenced to capital punishment and the judge will throw out the immunity bargains and send those men to prison. Your mother will be tried on charges of reckless endangerment and child neglect and will be sentenced to prison for a term of 15 years to life, but she will die behind bars as no appeals board will hear her pleas." I smiled at them. Life would make them pay, just like Esme had said and I would be free to go on with my new life. We headed back to the house to hang out and wait for nightfall.

The day went by uneventfully. We talked and hung out around the house and I showed Esme how it was that we had to prepare the kids human food since they could actually eat it; it just had to be mixed with blood so they could digest it. The Denalis decided to stay around for a few days and their little ones joined the bunch here in play. I watched Edward read the children a story and enjoyed the smooth sound of his voice as he cooed the words of the story almost as much as they children did. When the kids went back to sleep I joined Emmett and Jasper in playing videogames. I had never played them before since we hadn't been able to afford them when I was little and then when we were able Phil never let me even have one let alone use one. Edward explained how to use the controls and I actually beat Emmett in a car race. He couldn't believe that someone that'd never played videogames before had beaten him. Edward and Alice took a bunch of pictures of his flabbergasted face to commemorate the official dethronement of the _**"Videogame King"**_ as Edward told me Emmett liked to call himself since had never been beaten before. When night finally rolled around we still had to wait till about midnight to make sure we wouldn't be spotted. Edward and I tucked the kids into bed and the babies into their custom bassinette that had been packed in the SUV and then headed back downstairs. We'd dressed in dark clothing for the occasion. Carlisle and Esme had been informed of the plans we had for the night and let us go, though I knew they worried about the effect that stepping into Charlie's house would have on me. Earlier in the day, Esme had pulled me aside and tried to convince me to stay behind. I understood her worry, in fact, I shared it. But I knew this was something I needed. I needed it to help me put everything behind me. If I didn't go, I knew that I would be forever looking back at what happened to me and make me unable to truly let it go. Esme understood and hugged me tightly. Edward picked up the bag with the tools needed to do the break in and make it authentic, Carlisle came down from his office with a few strips of cloth in his hands. Masks and gloves to hide us with. He handed them out to the others but kept mine in his hands. I was confused for a moment before he slipped the mask over my face himself before handing me the gloves. I understood then what he was doing, in that fairly simple gesture Carlisle was telling me that he was my father and would protect me. I hugged him tightly; it was what I had needed all my life, a father to take care of me. Carlisle hugged me back before releasing me and then he and Esme stood at the front door and watched us as we ran off into the night.

We ran all the way to Charlie's house using the woods as cover. It was a clear night, but there was no moon to be seen in the sky casting everything into shadows, though my eyes didn't need the light, the darkness merely changing the colors of the world for my new vampire eyes. At the edge of the tree line on Charlie's backyard we stopped. "Bella, what's the best place to break into the house?" Emmett asked.

"Backdoor," I told him. "The front has too many neighbors and we might be spotted. I know because that's how I used to sneak out of the house to go be with the kids." They nodded.

"Is there anything of value in the house to steal?" Rose wondered.

I nodded, "Charlie's gun collection. He has some rare heirloom ones that belonged to my great, great grandfather. From the Civil War. They're priceless. He also has the two of the first models of revolvers ever made, also priceless. His police uniforms and stuff might also be worth taking since criminals would to use them in other crimes or so he had told me himself years ago." They nodded.

Rose placed her hand on my shoulder, "Is there anything you would want to take? We all keep mementos of our human lives with us, for various reasons."

"No… wait yes. My grandmother's jewelry box. It's actually mine now. I was supposed to get it next Christmas since it's been passed down through the women in Charlie's family for years given on Christmas from mother to daughter on their 17th Christmas. But I don't know where it is or if it's still there."

"If it's there we'll get it and take it with us," Edward said firmly. "Let's go." With that we ran through the backyard and to the door. Emmett used a crowbar to pry the door open and make it seem like that's how the breaking happened breaking off the lock and a part of the wooden wall. We ran inside and crouched low to avoid the windows. Silently we made our way to the living room to find a mess of beer bottles.

"Charlie drank sometimes. He would sometimes get so drunk he couldn't even think straight. It wasn't often, but if he got out of hand he actually hurt himself. I heard from one of his friends once that he'd put himself in an alcohol-induced coma about 5 years ago or so when my grandmother died. It was why he wasn't at her funeral. Runs in the family. Gramps died from too much drinking which destroyed his liver and kidneys," I told them. "Ironically, when he was drunk out of his gourd was when he was actually nice to me and wouldn't hurt me at all. It was when he was sober that he was abusive so he cannot blame the drinks for that."

"Did you write that in the diary?" Jasper asked.

"Yes, actually there's a videotape I took of that very thing using his camcorder. The videotape's also in my room in a CD with the letters IHTN written in red. If he hasn't gotten rid of my stuff, it should still be there along with my other CD's." They nodded and Edward, Jasper and I went up the stairs to the second floor while Rose, Alice, and Emmett stayed in the living room and started trashing it and grabbing random stuff. "Left is my room, right is Charlie's there are only the two bedrooms. Charlie's gun collection's in the gun cabinet, which is hidden in the closet. There's also a linen closet on this floor and another closet and nothing else."

"Bella, if the jewelry box is here, where do you think he would have kept it?" Rose asked from downstairs.

"Probably in one of the closets or in his room somewhere. I do know it's not in my room or in the gun cabinet since he made me clean his guns about once a month, always when he was there since you need the key to open it," I told them. Emmett started ransacking the closets downstairs while Jasper took care of the ones upstairs. I took a deep breath and led Edward to my room. I paused outside for a moment, so much had happened in there…

"Are you okay Bella?" Edward asked me breaking me out of my dark thoughts by placing his hand on my shoulder. I took comfort in his simple touch taking his hand in my own and placing a kiss on it. Those hands that could crush steel as if it were merely a piece of wet paper were always so gentle with me. They made me feel so safe and secure.

"I am now," I told him squeezing his hand gently. And I was. His touch soothed away the pain of theirs, made it harder for me to remember the pain that other hands had brought, hands that I had trusted. I trusted the hands that held me now because they had earned it with their gentle ways and the kind eyes that were attached to them. I smiled at Edward and opened the door. "What's that smell?" I asked him, confused by the strange scent that came off of my room as I opened the door.

"Dermarxerion Ammonium. It's a cleaner sometimes used to clean up the scene of a crime, we'll actually it's a first step cleaner. Stupid of him to use it though. It will not erase blood or semen but actually make it stand out; preserve it for the luminol to find. It's presence alone points out that some effort was put into cleaning up the scene, and money because Dermarxerion Ammonium is not cheap. He's just digging his own grave with it," he told me. "Hold your breath when we go inside, the scent is hard on our noses." I stopped breading as soon as he said that. Together Edward and I walked in the door and I noticed that it was the same as I had left it. A little messy, a few clothes laying on the floor and the bed unmade and with dried blood and semen on the covers. "It's almost like he wants to make sure people know what he did," Edward said. He took out his phone and took pictures using the camera. "Evidence, in case Charlie tries to clean things up better. We'll take the covers too and the top of the mattress and send them to the district attorney. More evidence, and irrefutable evidence, at that." I nodded at him and stripped the bed placing the bed set in the plastic bag he handed me from his pack. He then ripped off the top portion of the mattress and packed it as well. We trashed my room making it look like a break in before leaving it after Edward retrieved the diary and the disk I had told him about. We left the room quickly closing the door behind us. I saw that Jasper had made a mess of the hallway emptying all the closets and I saw that he'd broken into the gun cabinet.

"Anything?"

"Found the guns and a few I think you didn't know about, but no jewelry box. You're right though, the guns are priceless and also untraceable since they are antiques. We could sell them for a pretty penny if you want."

"It'll annoy Charlie so why not." Jasper and Edward smiled.

Rose, Emmett and Alice came up the stairs then. "No jewelry box downstairs, but we did find this," Alice said as Emmett came in holding a wedding dress packed up in plastic.

My eyes widened as I looked at the familiar dress. "Oh my God. I haven't seen that in years. I thought Charlie had thrown it away when Gran had died and he cleaned out her house. It's my great, great grandmother's wedding dress. She sowed it by had in 1918 when she married her first husband at 17. Gran had kept it in her attic on the very same mannequin body that was used to sow it. Covered in plastic. She showed it to me when I was 11 and actually helped me put it on. It was huge, but we used it to play wedding in her backyard. The mannequin ended up wearing a jacket and playing the groom. Her idea, I was a bit old for a game like that, but I played along anyway and it was really fun. She even baked a small cake for it and got me a bouquet of flowers from her garden. She said that it would be the only wedding of mine that she would get to see, and she was right. About a month later she got sick and just never recovered. Some sort of lung disease, but not cancer. She was always weak and lethargic and unable to do much. She battled the disease for a year before she fell in a coma and never woke up," I told them as I took it in my hands. "The veil's also with it. I wonder where the tiara is though."

"Tiara?" Edward asked.

"Heirloom, I think. When Gran dressed me up in the dress she also did my hair and put a tiara and a silver comb into it. It was gorgeous. I had never seen it before that day or ever again. Over the years as I grew, she'd shown me the different heirloom jewelry that are supposed to be in her jewelry box. It's actually a fairly large box with several compartments. I knew the comb was hers, but I had never seen the tiara and she never told me where it came from."

"The jewelry box must be in his room then, perhaps the tiara will be there as well," Rose suggested. I nodded and gently laid the dress out on the floor to pick it up later when we left. That dress would be going home with me where it belonged. I led them to the master bedroom and opened the door. Charlie's room was a mess.

"I'd cleaned his room that night, it wasn't like this when I left it," I mentioned. "Strange, Charlie was never one to mess up his room, the rest of the house absolutely, but not his room. It's my mother's shrine after all. Everything in here was picked out by her, right down to this frame. It's me, the day after I was born." I picked up the frame and noticed something sticking out of it. "Odd, what is this?" I asked as I opened the back of the frame. Out of it fell an envelope; I caught it before if reached the ground. "I don't recognize this handwriting, but it's addressed to me," I told them as I put the frame back in place and used my nail to slice the envelope open, taking out the note inside. I showed it to them as I read it.

 _March 17, 1992._

 _Bella_

 _If you're reading this, then I've done something to you, or perhaps you'll find this note and run, I don't know. I'm sick, sick in my head and have fewer and fewer moments of lucidity. This letter may be my last. Run, sweetheart. Run away from me and never return. Do not let me be the one that hurts you as I've hurt so many others. Your mother was right to run away from me and take you away. If I hurt you, I'm sorry and can only hope you will be alright. I will not ask forgiveness. If I hurt you, I don't deserve it. Do not believe the mask my illness makes me wear, it's not real. Inside, I'm a monster. Run and forget everything that's ever happened and don't let me be the one to hold you back. Gran's jewelry box is under the bed hidden under the floor. There's a trap door and you'll find it there. Take it and go and don't look back. I'm not worth it; your mother is not worth it either. Run and don't look back. You were a beautiful baby Bella and I loved you very much that day you were born. Forget we exist now, and go live your life happily._

 _Charlie_

I had to read the letter twice, unbelieving of what I was reading. Charlie had written this years ago, when I was just 3 years old and was telling me to run, but hid the note? "It's probably just another ploy Bella. One more way to get you to trust him and then let him play with your emotions," Rose told me.

"Maybe, but the box is where he said it would be," Emmett said as he straightened up. While I was lost in thought he and Jasper had moved the bed and found the trap door. In it was he jewelry box, which Jasper was lifting out.

"He didn't have this when I was three. Gran did. The letter's fake. But I'm taking his advice anyway and forgetting," I said as I took the box from Jasper's hands. We searched and trashed the room before leaving, filling the bags with random stuff and the police uniforms. I took the box in my hands and the wedding dress and we ran out the backdoor and went back home with our ' **loot** '.

Carlisle and Esme were sitting on the couch when we ran in, laughing together at a joke Emmett had told. It was obvious they were waiting for us. "Success," Emmett called out in glee as he caught sight of them. We put the bags down on the floor as they stood. Carefully I put the dress and the box on the armchair, mindful of the delicate material.

Esme came and hugged me, "What are those Bella?' she asked, noticing the items I had carefully set down.

"My great, great grandmother's wedding dress and my Gran's jewelry box." I told her the story like I had told the others and handed Carlisle the letter. "It's signed Charlie, but that's not his handwriting. I actually do not recognize it. What it says is true though, the box was found where it says and there's no way it could have been there all this time since I was three because Gran had her jewelry box. I saw it growing up and she showed me the contents. We would even play with the things inside."

"I've seen his handwriting before in the paper he filled out at the hospital for the cremation. It's not his, you're right about that. How odd," Carlisle said.

"Irrelevant really. I'll take the advise. They're not worth dwelling on," I told him. Esme smiled and hugged me tightly, and I saw Carlisle beam at me. I took the note from him and chucked it in the fire that was burning on the hearth. After that we sat around the living room looking over the loot. Some cash, some ID information, and a few electronics were the stuff that was taken from downstairs there was a videocassette as well, it was unmarked. I picked it up. "What's this?"

"Don't know, it was inside the VCR when we grabbed it," Emmett said.

"But that VCR hasn't worked in years," I said. "And I had cleaned it a few days before when I was cleaning up the living room. There was nothing in there."

I saw Alice's eyes go blank for a moment, "I see us playing it but not what's on it. It's important though I can see that."

Carlisle nodded and went to the TV to place it in the DVD VHS player. The tape started to roll and strangely the scene showed my bedroom and me sitting and doing my homework. The time caption showed that it was made on the night I died. "Okay, that's weird. There was no camera in my room; at least I didn't see one."

"Hidden camera," Edward growled. "Looks like it was hidden in the far corner of the room since the angle gives a view of almost the whole room." Suddenly, on the screen, Charlie walked into the room. Carlisle jumped up and stopped the movie; we'd seen as Charlie started yelling at me and hit me with the bat before the movie cut off. Snarls filled the room. I was shocked Charlie had taped his assault of me? "He's dug his own grave. That's irrefutable evidence," Edward snarled. It took a while before everyone calmed down. Calmly we put the video into the bag of evidence. Alice had taken the bloodstained diary and the video and made a copy of them, packing them up in the package she was taking to Evans herself. After packing and closing the package that was going to the DA's office, enclosing the printouts of the pictures Edward had taken, she and Jasper ran out the door and headed to Seattle. After that, we all went our separate ways. Em and Rose retired for the night. Carlisle and Esme went to hunt and Edward and I went up to his room after checking on the babies. He put on some soothing music and we just sat in the couch and he held me all night. I could think of nowhere else I would rather be.

The next day dawned bright and clear. The sun shined in the sky and spread sparkles all over the room. Confused, I looked around until I noticed the sparkles were coming from me and Edward. Oh right, we glittered in the sun. It made Edward look so incredibly beautiful. I looked into his shining topaz eyes and felt myself drown in them. I never wanted to come back up. I had half a mind to kiss him senseless, and for once just let myself go with it. The moment our lips touched lava flowed in my veins and sparks of electricity sizzled between us. My skin felt as if it were burning, but there was no pain, just pleasure. I felt Edward's arms wrap tightly around me, and I never wanted to leave them. I felt so safe and happy there, like there was nothing in the world that could hurt me when he held me. And I knew there wasn't; he wouldn't let anything hurt me. It felt so good to be protected. I never wanted this peaceful moment to end, but end it had to since there was a knock on Edward's door. We parted and glared at the door since neither of us was happy to separate, but our glares disappeared as the door was opened and Akasha came in, rubbing her eyes, she was always the first one up, but this was early for her. "Mommy?" she asked.

"Right here baby. You're up early," I said as she came bounding in and climbed up on my lap.

"Yeah, Quinn kicked me out of bed," she complained.

I had to laugh, "Don't worry, we'll get your bed all set up soon," I told her.

"Does he always do that?" Edward asked.

"Yes, he kicks a lot in his sleep, and can push people out of bed. He did it once to me too," I told him.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, Kasha?"

"Is he our new daddy?" she asked.

"Yes," Edward answered her. "If that's what you want. I love your Mommy very much, and I love you all very much too." Akasha climbed out of my lap and into his, giving him a big hug as her answer. Edward placed a kiss on her head as he held her.

She pulled away from him and looked into his eyes, "You won't hurt, Mommy too, right?"

"Never. I'd rather die than ever lay a hurtful hand on her, or on you or your siblings. And I will never ever let anyone hurt her or you guys either. If anyone wants to, they'll have to come through me first," he answered looking her directly in the eyes. I could hear the sincerity in his words and see it in his eyes. Akasha could too and hugged him tightly once more before settling into his lap. She had a questioning look in her eyes.

"Mommy?"

"Yes Kasha?"

"Are we gonna live here now?"

"For a little while longer, yes," Edward answered her. "We will be moving again soon, though."

"Why?" Akasha looked at him.

"You know that vampires don't age right?" She nodded. "And you know that it will be some time before you're full grown, right sweetheart?" Again she nodded. "Well my family and I are different from other vampires. We only hunt animals."

"Like, Cam and Cat and us?"

"Yes, dear. And that lets us stay in one place for a while, but we can't remain for too long because people would notice how we don't age."

"Or how we don't grow up?"

"Yes dear, but we will be keeping you guys out of view as much as possible, at least until you're bigger. It's much safer for you that way," Edward explained.

"Particularly from other vampires. Some might not understand and may try to hurt you," I told her.

"Zelya told us that too. Oh yeah, Mommy, did you ever look at the letter she left you?"

My eyes widened, "No baby. I admit I completely forgot about it. And I don't know where I put the briefcase," I said.

"It's in the garage," Edward said. "I saw it when we went outside to talk, yesterday, but forgot to ask you about it."

I nodded and got up from the couch to run back downstairs and to the garage to get it. I ran back up to Edward's room and sat back down beside him and Akasha and opened it. Beside the wrist controllers I also found my laptop the logbook and some papers, keys and the letter just like Caitlyn said. I saw the curious look on Edward's face and smiled, explaining the contents. "I'm sure you know, from Cam and Cat's memories, who Zelya is right?" He nodded. "Before she left she packed this stuff up for me. The logbook contains Vladimir and Stephan's research and the information on my pregnancy. They keys are for a storage unit where she put the books that the kids found before reaching Romania. My laptop contains the translation software I was using to work with them. And the papers are for a bank account that contains my inheritance, which she managed to transfer away, or so the kids told me yesterday." I pulled out the letter and held it between us so me could both read it.

Bella, my dear friend.

I'm sure you must be angry with me, for running off like this and leaving the kids alone. I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am for this, my friend. If there were another choice, I would take it gladly, but if I stay I'll be putting you and your kids in danger, and I do not want that. I'm sure the kids have told you that I smelled Demetri on the hunt. I did, my friend, but not just him, I didn't tell them because I didn't want to scare them, and you know that, despite the time Cam, Cat, Achilles and Briseis spent with them, they are afraid of them, particularly some of hem who had been fairly mean to them while in Volterra, like Felix and Santiago. There's a contingent of guards in Portland, Oregon. I smelled them on my way passed it to the next state to hunt. I'm not sure why they are here. They could be looking for me, though I've taken great pains to make sure they couldn't track me. But they could also be coming after the resident vampire clan of the area, the Cullens, or something else entirely. I just don't know and I couldn't take the chance. The night you hurt yourself, I saw Dr. Cullen steal you from the hospital, and knew he'd changed you. I wanted to take you back from him, but he got to his home before I could reach him and there were too many there for me to take on alone. I knew you'd be better off with them than with me. I'm a traditional vampire, but I know you'll be a vegetarian; you just can't hurt a fly. I do not know who the Volturi are after but I can't stick around to find out. But I will tell you why.

I'm not really of the Romanian coven. 1,500 years ago I had a family of my own. A mother, two sisters and a brother. We were happy once and we had all loved each other. I lived in naivety, thinking my world was perfect. Then came the day when the Volturi turned my world upside down. I'm sure by now the Cullens have told you about vampires and that some of us have gifts beyond the vampire norm. If they haven't by chance, then I will tell you now, and tell you that your kids also have gifts just as you do, but I'll get back to that in a minute I need to finish my story first. My mother was not a gifted vampire and neither was my younger sister, but myself and my brother and other sister were. We have powerful gifts. I can read powers, but of humans only, I can tell which humans will have gifts if they become vampires and I can also read your kids but my ability is very nebulous with a vampire. Not a very useful one according to the Volturi but enough to spare my life. My brother and sister, the twins, were far more powerful. My sister could make you feel pain beyond measure with a thought her twin made you feel nothing at all and cut off all your senses. The Cullens would know them as Jane and Alec, the powerful twins of the Volturi. They gained fame for their powers with our kind though they had little control over them at the time, and it reached the ears of the Volturi. Aro is a collector. He loves finding rare objects and his most prized possessions are his living, gifted treasures. And he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. The Cullen family may argue what I say since the patriarch is a known friend of Aro, but I have lived through this very trait of Aro's and know it to be a fact. He values his reputation amongst our kind too much to tarnish it by showing his true colors though. What he does do to gain what he desires is far worse though, because he uses the trust of our people against us. Once he identifies the treasures he wants he makes up charges against the coven they belong to with fake evidence to prove it to the vampire world. The charges are always some unpardonable crime and the Volturi would descend on the coven to exact revenge and he would go himself to watch and control the situation to make sure he can keep the gift he wants.

That's what he did to us. He accused my mother and sister of creating an immortal child, an unpardonable crime. A child he himself made and later claimed had been taken captive in a village near where my family lived in the hands of my mother. The truth was that my mother had been with me on that day and we'd never seen that child before in our lives. But no one would listen, and no one would help us. The guard came and we were put on ' **trial'**. It was only a show for the mass of witness that Aro had brought. His real goal was my brother and sister. The guard forced us to our knees while we screamed that it wasn't true. And Aro made a show of reading our minds. My mother and sister where swiftly executed along with the child Aro claimed was theirs that my sister had made her and our mother had helped her. Myself, Aro spared because I had a gift similar to one of his guards though not worth taking. He made a show of saying that I was pardoned because I had no idea of what my mother and sister had done. I screamed and screamed that it was all a lie, but no one would listen. Anaya and Alexander were spared with the same excuse. And Aro offered them a place on the guard. They would not have taken it, not willingly. Not after their mother and sister being slaughtered like that. They would have used their gifts to fight back but they had little control over them at the time. There is one among the guard, Bella, who has a gift to manipulate the ties that bind people together, Chelsea. She has been Aro's lover for over 2,000 years though he is married to Sulspicia. She would do anything for him. And her function in the guard is to break the ties between allies, and bind them to Aro. Any ties weaker than the bond between mates in a normal coven is in danger. I loved my family dearly and so did they, but the ties of covens of traditional vampires are weak and easily broken. She broke Anaya and Alexander's ties to our mother and bound them to Aro with an almost lover like devotion. Forcing them to be trilled with Aro's offer and forcing them to go with them. Aro renamed the Jane and Alec for his purposes, erasing their true identities as my brother and sister, for all intents and purposes, killing my sweet brother and sister and turning them into monsters. I was let go and never saw my brother or sister again. I traveled alone for years, hating myself for letting my family down. I eventually found the few remaining Romanians and stayed with them. Vladimir and Stephan were kind to me and helped me get over my hatred of myself. I stayed with them until I found you, a sweet little girl with powerful gifts and I knew I had to protect until you found your destiny.

Bella, Chelsea enslaves vampires for Aro so he can have their gifts. When I smelled them nearby us, I feared for your safety and the safety of the children. When I said you all have gifts I meant it. Bella you are a rarity amongst our kind for you are very, very powerful. Normal vampires, if they have gifts at all, it's usually only one. More than that is rare. You Bella have three. You are a powerful double shield, mental and physical. Now that you are a vampire, no one can harm you. No physical attack can touch you, no vampire power that works on the mind can hurt you. And you also have the capability to shield others, though you are raw still, being so knew to this life. Your second ability is your most astonishing. You are a mimic. You are able to copy the powers of other vampires and make them your own, and most astonishing of all is that it was active when you were human still. You must have been around many vampires growing up because you already have a plethora of gifts at hand. Some, you copied from your kids, some I don't know where they came from. You can read minds, project thoughts with or without touch, move things with your mind, and blow things up, which came from your eightuplets. Lestat, Akasha, Tarquin, Achilles, Briseis, Cameron and Caitlyn have gifts of their own, which you've copied. Cameron can teleport, Caitlyn has a type of shield which makes her invisible, Lestat can control the weather, Akasha and Tarquin can fly well it's more like levitation really, but it's the same basic principle, Achilles can manipulate minds and Briseis can see the past and small bits of the future and has a strange talent to create clothing out of thin air; I tend to call it a fashion power. Ask her to show it to you since it's easier to understand that way. As if this weren't enough, your 3rd ability makes what Aro can do look like a parlor trick. You're a soul reader you can read the souls of people to know absolutely everything there is to know about them. Beyond these you've also copied abilities that I have no idea where they came from. You can manipulate the 4 elements of nature, earth, fire, wind, and water. No illusion, actual manipulation. And you're also a siren, like in Greek mythology, you can sing to make people do as you wish. You may even have some talent to share gifts but if you do I cannot tell because something like that would require practice and actual decisions on your part which is beyond of the scope of my gift to read. I can tell you, however, that your mental shield has always been active and guarding you. And that all 8 of your infants have the power to get through it, both shields. It's the flipside of your shield just as surely as the thought projection is the flipside of the mind reading. It's like you're the lock and they have the only key, and you're so powerful even when you were only human or now as a barely day old vampire or so; I doubt there's a shield on Earth that can keep them at bay.

If you put all that together, you are the greatest jewel and Aro would kill to have you, you're kids as well. I had to go and draw them away. He'll want you, and he will want your kids. If you're with the Cullens show them this letter and warn them, Aro would kill to have their powerful children too. Carlisle's children have a reputation around the vampire world, the girl who can see the future, the boy who can read minds and the boy who can manipulate emotions. The mind reader isn't that important since Aro can do that too, but the other two are. If you're not with them, find them and give them this warning. Sooner or later, Aro **will** come for the powerful children and he will take them and destroy their family in the process. Mine is not a unique case. Since the Volturi came into power there have been many, many families destroyed in this way. You can't run from them, Demetri will find you. I think that he won't be able to find you Bella because of your gifts but anyone else yes he can. But please, please be careful. You have gifts that will make you irresistible to Aro, but it is those very gifts that you can use to protect yourself and your kids, and anyone else. You're too raw now, you need to train, you need to find the mental muscles, as we call them, and learn to flex them and work on them to strengthen your gifts and be able to control them. Most gifts require some work to be able to enhance the latent ability. If you need any motivation at all, just think about what Aro will do to your babies, think about them growing up as slaves to a power-hungry madman with no chance at any kind of real life or happiness, or think about him killing you kids, using them as the excuse he needs to take what he wants. Think about what he will do to anyone else you care about. Think of this and I know you will have all the motivation you need to fight. If you're with the Cullens you need to get them to teach you to fight, not just with your gifts, but actual hand-to-hand combat. Learn all you can as soon as you can and become strong so that if and when something comes at you, you can defend yourself.

I love you guys and am sorry I left like this. If it weren't for the Volturi I would have staid with you, and maybe even tried the Vegetarian lifestyle myself. It certainly has advantages but it's for the best. You're the first friend I've had since my family had and I hope you will be alright and remain that way. I love you, Bella and I will miss you all. Take care of yourselves and watch out.

Love,

Zelya

Ps. Check your computer when you can. While I was packing it went off.

I had to read that letter twice. My kids and I were powerful? The Volturi would come for us or the Cullens? I couldn't deny that I knew that she was serious about what she wrote; she wouldn't have left if she weren't, but it was a hard concept for me to grasp. "Could she be telling the truth?" I heard myself ask.

"I can tell you that what she said about your powers and ours is true. She had known for a while, but she wasn't sure how to bring it up with you. And Cam, Cat, Achilles and Brissy really are scared of the Volturi, Mommy," Akasha answered my question. "I also know that the babies didn't put up a fuss when she left. I could tell that EJ was reading her mind, even though she had told him he shouldn't do that unless he had permission. After that the babies all stopped fussing and just looked on sadly as she walked out the door. They even grabbed on to our hands and asked us to let her go, but wouldn't say why. I was going to tell you about it but I forgot with everything that happened."

"It's okay baby. We'll figure it out." I ran my fingers through her hair. "Is there anything else that you need to tell me?"

"Only that Cam, Cat, Achilles and Brissy seemed really scared that the Volturi were in the area but not really surprised," she said.

"We'll talk to them, and find out what they know. Why don't you go and get ready for the day? Meantime Mommy and I will show the letter to Carlisle and wait for your siblings to get up, okay?" Edward said.

"Okay Daddy," Akasha said and skipped out the room. The look on Edward's face as she called him Daddy for the first time was priceless. I smiled at him and took his hand and went to Carlisle's office, coincidentally finding Eleazar there, whom I had learned last night had been with the Volturi once. We showed them the letter.

"Do you think it's true Carlisle, about the Volturi I mean?" I asked.

Carlisle was silent for a moment, "I do not doubt that she believes what she wrote, but I'm not certain she was right. Aro's greedy, I will not doubt that, but I can't see him acting as Zelya described, either." He called the rest of the adults up to his office and showed them the letter; they all had similar reactions. We talked about it, discussing it amongst ourselves. Kate asked me at one point if I could project and I explained how I had no idea what I could do, Zelya had never told me. We spoke of her teaching me how to use the gifts, helping me learn and speculated that my being in proximity to her and the other gifted vampires in the house, if what Zelya said about my powers was true, then I probably already copied these gifts, or that it might have only worked while I was human. Irina asked about her final note about the computer and I explained that the translations software must have come up with something; the computer was turned off since it was packed in the briefcase but it had always been left running 24/7 to work on the translation. I made a mental note to come back to that later and check it out, who knows what I could find.

"Can you think of even one exception, though?" Edward asked. I looked over to make sense of his comment and realized that everyone else was already staring at the two men. They were leaning toward each other intently; Edward's expression tight with suspicion, Eleazar's unhappy and reluctant.

"I don't want to think of them that way," Eleazar said through his teeth. I was surprised at the sudden change in the atmosphere. "If you're right –," Eleazar began again.

Edward cut him off. "The thought was yours, not mine."

"If _**I'm**_ right... I can't even grasp what that would mean. It would change everything about the world we've created. It would change the meaning of my life. What I have been a part of."

"Your intentions were always the best, Eleazar."

"Would that even matter? What have I done? How many lives…"

Tanya put her hand on Eleazar's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "What did we miss, my friend? I want to know so that I can argue with these thoughts. You've never done anything worth castigating yourself this way."

"Oh, haven't I?" Eleazar muttered. Then he shrugged out from under her hand and began his pacing again, faster than before.

Tanya watched him for half a second and then focused on Edward. "Explain."

Edward nodded, his tense eyes following Eleazar as he spoke. "He was trying to understand why the Volturi could be in the area as nothing has happened that would require their attention. If they really are. It could be a coincidence or they could have been searching for Zelya like she thought. He remembered the incident that she spoke of. And remembered the pleas of the family that it was all a lie, even as they were torn apart and how Jane and Alec joined them. He was also remembering that Chelsea really is Aro's lover and has been since he took her from the Romanians when they were overthrown. He's actually one of the few people that knew about this, most of the guard's not aware, not even Chelsea's mate Afton. He was remembering other times that covens have been punished, for one thing or the other and a pattern occurred to him. It was a pattern that the rest of the guard would never have noticed, since Eleazar was the one passing the pertinent intelligence privately to Aro. A pattern that only repeated every other century or so."

"What was this pattern?" Carmen asked, watching Eleazar as Edward was. Everyone else also stared intently.

"Aro does not often personally attend a punishing expedition," Edward said. "But in the past, when Aro wanted something in particular, it was never long before evidence turned up proving that this coven or that coven had committed some unpardonable crime. The ancients would decide to go along to watch the guard administer justice. And then, once the coven was all but destroyed, Aro would grant a pardon to one member whose thoughts, he would claim, were particularly repentant. Always, it would turn out that this vampire had the gift Aro had admired. Always, this person was given a place with the guard. The gifted vampire was won over quickly, always so grateful for the honor. There were no exceptions." It was exactly as Zelya had said, was she right? I could tell that this very thought was on everyone's minds

"It must be a heady thing to be chosen," Kate suggested, but her eyes were a little doubtful.

"Ha!" Eleazar snarled, still in motion.

"There is one among the guard," Edward said, explaining Eleazar's angry reaction. "Her name is Chelsea. She has influence over the emotional ties between people. She can both loosen and secure these ties. She could make someone feel bonded to the Volturi, to want to belong, to want to _**please**_ them..." Again Zelya was proven right.

Eleazar came to an abrupt halt. "We all understood why Chelsea was important. In a fight, if we could separate allegiances between allied covens, we could defeat them that much more easily. If we could distance the innocent members of a coven emotionally from the guilty, justice could be done without unnecessary brutality – the guilty could be punished without interference, and the innocent could be spared. Otherwise, it was impossible to keep the coven from fighting as a whole. So Chelsea would break the ties that bound them together. It seemed a great kindness to me, evidence of Aro's mercy. I did suspect that Chelsea kept our own band more tightly knit, but that, too, was a good thing. It made us more effective. It helped us coexist more easily." Again Zelya was proven right.

"How strong is her gift?" Tanya asked with an edge to her voice. Her gaze quickly touched on each member of her family.

Eleazar shrugged. "I was able to leave with Carmen." And then he shook his head. "But anything weaker than the bond between partners is in danger, just as it says in the letter. In a normal coven, at least. Those are weaker bonds than those in our family, though. Abstaining from human blood makes us more civilized – lets us form true bonds of love. I doubt she could turn our allegiances, Tanya." Tanya nodded, seeming reassured, while Eleazar continued with his analysis. "Everything that it says on that letter is the truth. I have felt Bella's shield and the children's gifts as well, I was actually discussing it with Carlisle before bringing it up with you. More over, I remember the specific incident and many similar others. With this new information I can put the pieces together to see the truth. Aro really is abusing the trust of immortals to get what he wants."

Alice got a faraway look in her eyes, "There's too much in the way, but I can see a possibility of a confrontation with them and nothing else. I can also see that they indeed are in the area cleaning up a minor issue; just a routine issue with an overzealous vampire creating a little too much ruckus, but will be going back to Volterra now. In fact they are at the airport waiting their plane to be ready to depart. It would be wise of us to leave the area as soon as possible and probably all say together or close to one another, safety in numbers."

"Should we leave Denali?" Kate wondered.

Alice checked the future, "It would be too strange since your family has been there for so long as it is and we do not want to draw attention to ourselves. But we definitely have to leave. There's a resort camp about 100 miles from Denali, which has closed down and was put for sale yesterday. We could offer to buy it; it's actually perfect for our family to stay in for prolonged periods. It was originally a hunting resort camp and has quite a few different lodges for each of us as well as any guests of ours. There's more game there than we could all finish in several years and the camp's old owners even had a breeding program for several species of game animals that they had in place which we could continue to allow us to replenish that which we feed on. There are several hospitals in the area in need of doctors which Carlisle can work for as long we keep secret where exactly we live since they are all quite far from the camp. Schools too, none of which we've ever attended as well as other options for us to use as part of our identities. The camp's so off the beaten path than even most vampires wouldn't venture to that area since it's so far from food and most humans do not go that far into the tundra unless they are hunters and the camp owns a very large hunting reserve, about the ¾ size of Yellowstone and no humans venture into it since it's private hunting property and there are very strict laws. It used to be an exclusive hunting camp only open to expensive clientele once or twice a year and the rest of the year it was a family home so it's perfect for our needs and since it has been closed for a number of years as the family had fallen into some hard times; it would not be strange for us to keep it closed. There's a town near it, about an hour's drive for a human from there where we could start out and it wouldn't even be strange for us to have expensive cars since many families there are well of and have some too. And we're so close to Denali that it wouldn't be strange for your family to visit often since we are all known to be close. Given everything that's happened it would be best to draw no attention to ourselves, best to not give anyone any excuse to become curious about us. But most of all we should steer clear of Italy all together and should we meet anyone else; it would be wise to not reveal anything about our family beyond the fact that we're vegetarian. No talking about the kids or any kind of gifts."

"I'll place an offer on it now," Esme said as Alice gave her the information and she pulled out her cell phone to place the call.

"I see it will not take long to get it. We'll own it by nightfall and Escrow will close in a week since we're paying cash. We'll need to do some repair work to the place and update it a bit, but that's nothing, other than a few issues it's move-in ready right now. We'll need to burry the true ownership of the place behind some of the screens we've used before, just in case someone gets curious. We can stay in Denali for a week or two and then move in, actually we should do just that, I see. It will be less conspicuous. The weather there's perfect for us too, really cloudy and we have a private beach as part of the resort property. Carlisle, you'll get a call from your supervisor in an hour. He's confused and concerned since he was just told that you called in sick, something you've never done before and one of the nurses has kids at the school and will be going into the office with them for something and hear that you'd called us in sick as well. We can use that time to make up an excuse and then tomorrow you can head in to work and turn in your resignation effective immediately."

"Can you see what excuse will work best, Alice?" Carlisle asked.

Alice looked at the future for a few seconds, "Sick family member. Best to say it's a terminal illness to give us an excuse to move right away to be with them before they are gone. Esme can go in tomorrow to withdraw us from school while Jasper and Edward go see J. Jenks about new identity papers. I also see that Bella will be able to join us in school no problem."

"How is that possible, she's only a day old, Alice?" Jasper asked.

"Right, we forgot to tell you guys what happened on the hunt." Then Alice smiled a really big smile, which was in danger of cracking her face and Edward's eyes were huge and he had this silly half grin on his face as he hugged me.

"On the hunt she caught the scent of some hikers who were in the wrong place at the wrong time..." I heard Carlisle suck in a shocked breath. Esme's face, who had returned upon hearing what Alice had said, was suddenly full pride. Jasper's eyes widened, but he nodded just a tiny bit. Emmett shrugged, nothing bothered Emmett if it didn't bother Rose and Rosalie was smiling along with Alice.

"Girls!" Carlisle chastened. "How could you be so irresponsible?"

"I saw what would happen, Carlisle, and it was the best thing for her. She needed to see that she was strong enough and I made sure she was well fed before letting that happen to help her think a bit more clearly. Nothing would have happened regardless, but it was a better option."

"Wait," Jasper gasped. "She didn't hunt the humans?"

"She started to," Rose said, clearly enjoying what was going on as much as Alice. Edward looked at me with his silly grin growing bigger; clearly he saw in their minds what happened, if the pride shining from his eyes was any indication. "She was entirely focused on the hunt."

"What happened?" Carlisle interjected. His eyes were suddenly bright, an amazed smile beginning to form on his face. It reminded me of before, when he'd wanted the details on my transformation experience or the kids. The thrill of new information. I could also detect the pride in his eyes, and I was so happy, I had made my father proud of me.

Alice was very bouncy as she continued. "She heard us behind her and reacted defensively. As soon as our pursuit broke into her concentration, she snapped right out of it. I've never seen anything to equal her. She realized at once what was happening, and then... _ **she held her breath and ran away!"**_

"Whoa," Emmett murmured. "Seriously?"

"Yep, Esme saw it all if you don't believe us. I had called her in to watch but not interfere since we'd need her a little later." I looked at Esme and saw the pride shining in my new mother's eyes. Carlisle's eyes were also lit in pride as well as amazement. "It might take a few weeks to get her used to the smell of humans completely, but she can certainly join us at school. If she's not comfortable joining in for this semester, she can be home schooled for the duration of it and join later. We can easily explain that away. It would be wise for Bella to not be made into Jazz and Rose's little sister and take the name Hale; it's too much risk since it's a rather small conservative town and our relationships will be hard enough to swallow just like here. Cullen's also not a possibility since she's with Edward. So I was thinking that she should use her real name, and we could tell the truth about her. How she was an abused child that we found and took in. She'll have no real ties to the family in public except that she lives with us so it wouldn't be as strange for her and Edward to be together as the rest of us. We could easily explain away her being home schooled as her needing to catch up on her schooling because of the abuse since she wasn't allowed to got to school for some time…" She got a far away look, "Actually that's a better option because I can see that Bella has actually forgotten most of what she learned in school, only really remembering the things she leaned with Zelya. We'll need to test her to see how much she does and doesn't remember but teaching her at home is better to help her catch up and then she can join us at school next semester. The older kids can even go to school too if they want, but it's best to keep the smallest out of the public eye entirely. If they don't want to then we'll keep them out of the public eye too."

"How do we explain them, Alice?" I asked.

She looked into the future before answering, "The best way is to say they are your siblings and that you had cared for them for some time so if they see that they have a stronger connection with you, it won't be weird at all. We'd have to make sure to explain why they can't call you Mommy in public and that they have to act a certain age and not do anything more advanced, but other than that, it'll all work out fine. We could remain in the hunting camp even after we have to move from the town since it's far enough away we won't be seen and just build new public images in the other towns which are far enough away that we shouldn't run into anyone. We could stay there for a number of years, decades even."

"What about hunting?"

"The camp can provide for us for a number of years without impact, if we continue the breeding program we can add many more years and there are plenty of other nearby areas over populated with all the food we'd ever need so we could easily feed well without drawing attention for at least 20 years or more unless some sort of disaster happens. And the towns are spread far enough apart that no one will know Carlisle at the hospitals so long as his cover is always that he came from somewhere other than Alaska."

"We'll see how things go on that front, but it sounds great," Carlisle said.

Esme hung up the phone and came back in, "The real estate agent says he'll present the offer to the clients and we'll know soon," she told us.

"We need to start packing then," Jasper said.

"We also need to go shopping for some things for Bella and the kids," Alice said.

"I should check the computer and see what it says," I mentioned.

"That's not a bad idea, we could also check and see what you do and don't remember while we're at it," Edward said. I nodded smiling.

"We'll keep an eye on the children while you guys are getting ready," Kate offered.

"Thanks Kate," Carlisle said.

"Carlisle, your supervisor will call in 10 minutes," Alice said before we all headed out the door, and our separate ways.

When the kids woke up and had breakfast the Denalis did us the favor of taking them for a quick hunt before letting them play outside in the backyard and keeping an eye on them. I made a point of asking them what they knew about what was going on and it turned out that the eightuplets had read Zelya's mind which is why they had let her leave. And the Cam and Cat in particular hadn't been surprised to hear that the Volturi were in the area because they had figured Aro would try to find us after our escape from Volterra and might be able to track us despite Zelya's measures. The babies were asleep in their bassinette, which we move to Edward's room so we could keep an eye on them while we talked. First Edward and I tested my memory and found that I had forgotten pretty much all of my history lessons as well as Trigonometry and Calculus. Science and the other courses would need a refresher but I remembered literature best since I had always loved to read, though I would need to re-read certain novels as refreshers since I only really remembered my favorites. My languages were still up to par though we would also need to work on those since I had still been learning before the change and Edward promised to teach me along with the others he knew, a thing which Carlisle said he'd help with too. Carlisle and Edward would also help me relearn the Anatomy course since that also went straight out the window. Around mid-day after feeding, and changing the babies and letting them go out into the sun for some play time with their elder siblings, something I always allowed them to do and knew well that was fine, Edward and I finally turned to checking the translation program. We would work on my school studies later as we had plenty of time and Edward assured me that it wouldn't really be studying so much as reading everything once since our memory was so much better than a human's. He said that we'd work on an outline later and that tomorrow when he went to school to clean out his locker he would keep his textbooks to help out with that along with making use of the family's vast collection of books. As soon as the laptop started up I saw the popup message on the screen.

Translation complete. Pompeii book translation Complete. Book AC123. Key code written in Classic Latin. Translation accuracy confirmed. Signatures in book indicate that the author may be named Machiavellian De Pompeii. Format: part letter including dates and signatures, part history record and part narrative. Spans a 35-year period more or less from a few years before the birth of Christ to a few years after it. Encoded dating parameters set its written time to the beginning of the time of the Immortal Children, perhaps earlier. Book actually on bad condition and so translations were only partially accomplished. Several entries were fully legible and fully translated.

"You know I'm actually very surprised about that. That book's actually in the worst shape of all the Pompeii books and one of the worst in the entire collection so I'm surprised we were able to get the translation. Its pages were so aged and brittle that I dared not handle that book while I was human," I told him. "The Pompeii books were fairly well preserved, but there were a few in very bad shape. Some of the cashes, including Pompeii, contained scrolls as well as books but Zelya said they were in even worse shape and may be illegible."

"I know of some experts in the field of restoration that might be able to help, but I too have some knowledge in that area. I even have two degrees in archeology I got just for fun and could take a look. Carlisle also knows quite a bit more on restoration of writings as well and knows some more experts too. We'll see how that plays out later."

I nodded and continued looking over the information finding a surprise. "Oh, this is a surprise. Apparently the computer's listed a key for the book, highlighting changes in topics. Not quite indexing it, since it kind of mentions certain topics too often for that."

He looked over the screen. "What's this: One Particular Topic of Interest?"

I raised an eyebrow at that, not having seen it. I clicked the icon beside it to see what that was about. Mine and Edward's eyes widened in shock as we read the summary the computer had made of this topic. "Zelya had been helping me with the program and she keyed in a command to find topics related to certain aspects calling them topics of interest. They were to be about vampire physiology, vampire powers, or the time of the Immortal Children among other things. This one's marked as Vampire physiology entry. But I'm starting to wonder if the computer translated this right because that can't be right," I said after reading the summary.

"I as well," Edward said as we read the summary accompanying the entry. "I know a lot of knowledge from the ancient times was lost as a direct result of the Immortal Children and all the old established covens that were lost because of their creation. We'll need to check the book and corroborate the translation, but if it's correct, it's a bombshell." He raised his voice a little, "Carlisle, can you come here for a second? We could use your help."

Carlisle walked in the door a moment later, "What's wrong kids?" he asked. Edward motioned for him to sit with us on the couch and I gave him the laptop so he could read the messages.

One Topic of Interest Found. Search Parameter: Vampire Physiology.

Consumption of human food, possible and enjoyable if mixed with blood. Limited to vampires who feed not on humans.

"This cannot be right," Carlisle said. "We're not able to absorb human food and it tastes terrible even if we could."

"That's what we said," I replied as Edward picked up his phone when it started ringing.

"Alice?" he asked.

" _ **I saw. We're on our way back and have the books from Port Angeles,"**_ I heard Alice say. _**"We'll be there in 10 minutes,"**_ she said before hanging up. She had said they'd pick up the books on the way back so I gave her the keys and information.

"Pull up the scan of the area of the book in question and tell me where it is on the original to confirm the translation by hand when Alice gets back," Carlisle told me. I nodded and pulled up the file attached to the summary.

"703 pages from the blank first page. It's actually one of the most legible passages in the book that spans a total of about 10 pages from that page," I told him. Carlisle nodded and we went downstairs and showed everyone what was in the computer. The all had pretty much the same reactions, I mean sure the kids were able to eat human food as long as it was mixed with blood since they were half human, but it was a farfetched idea for us vampires.

Ten minutes later, Alice, Rose, Emmett and Jasper walked in the door. In Alice's hands was the book in question, which she handed to Carlisle. They told us that the other books were in the trunks in the U-Hal trailer, where they would stay until we got to the new house. The trunks were hermetically sealed and could only be opened with the combination but one of the papers that Zelya had left had been a list of the combination of the 25 trunks in case I forgot them with the change. Carlisle took the book from her and we all went to the dining room table. Carlisle carefully opened the book to the correct page. He scanned the text in the book for a minute, before looking over my shoulder at the translation again and revising that with his own translation. He shook his head, "I can't believe what I'm about to say, but the translation's correct. Some of the verb usages are a bit archaic since this was written in old Latin not the better known popular Latin, which is what we refer to today as Latin, but for the most part it's correct. Which means that what the translation says about this entry is true."

"So what does it really say?" Jasper asked.

"It's a collection of entries, written partly in a narrative and partly as a technical manual," I told them and then began to read the translation; even the dates had been converted to ones we could understand.

May 4th, 99 BC

I have very recently heard from a passing nomad that child vampires have begun to appear in different towns of the barbarians in the north. Apparently, if you make a barbarian a vampire they stay barbarians for the creation of vampires from human children is wrong. Though I love learning new things, the children of our prey should not be made immortal. I doubt they would have the control but mostly it would be preferable to allow them to gain a mind before giving them immortality. Still that is not why I've broken my long silence and begun to write. I have finally given up the blood of our prey successfully though it has not been an easy road these last few years. In actual fact, it has been a torment. My throat constantly craves the soothing touch of the blood of my prey, but the gentle animals of the forest have sustained me quite nicely. In my desperation to calm the burning in my throat I'd begun to wonder if, since animals sustain me as well as humans, thought they cannot make the fire in my throat completely go away, could I feed as humans feed? Could I eat the meat of my prey and the grains and fruits of the fields as the humans do? Through much trial and error I have found the answer to be simply this. . . Yes I am able, though it is not easy.

The blood of my new prey had fed me well enough to resist those from which I had been taken, and opened an opportunity for me, which I have not had in over 700 years since the time of my forced Dark Rebirthing by my father Romulus de Marietta. And it is the blood of these same animals, when poured over the foods that sustain the humans that allows me to sustain myself in the ways that I did when my heart still made a sound and there was life in my veins. It fills me with so much joy to no longer have to feed like that monster that took me from my home, my young, expectant bride and the child I would never now, from the monster had served me on a golden chalice the blood of my sweet innocent Ariadna which I barely managed to pull away from before she was lost to the Elysian Fields which are bared from me for all time and in so doing gave the same Dark Rebirthing as I had received to her and killed the babe in her womb, which became as dry and barren as the Persian desert, and made us both demons preying on our brothers and sisters. Ariadna, my sweet Ariadna, If only my sacrifices would earn me just a tiny bit of your love back it would make my damned life so bearable, that you see my repentance for what was forced upon me when I was too young a demon to say no... ...

"It goes on to describe Ariadna and his pain for her rejection of him and his repentance for the next few pages until the last page of the entry which is when he gets back on topic," I told our family.

... ...The blood must not be let to cool, for the blood of the dead is as appalling to us as it is to the living. But blood newly spilled, from a still beating heart flavors the foods of the living for the damned and lets us taste even for a short while that which is denied to us. For my first few tries the foods of the people would find their way back out of my innards, their not being used to anything other than blood denying me this pleasure though the flavor of the foods enthralled me. But if plenty of blood comes in contact with the food my innards retain it within me and fill me with strength. I have tasted of the meat of the sweet animals whose blood gently calms my throat, and found it to be the most appealing thing to me. The fruits of the fields are harder for my body to accept but the blood of those that feed on meat flavors these for me and lets them remain within me to feed me. The sweetest foods and drinks are my greatest pleasure manifest, and I have found that after some time not as much blood is necessary for my ever-hungry body to accept these meals. Eventually I have only needed to have a belly full of lifeblood in order to enjoy feeding as my brothers and sisters' feed. Ariadna, beloved Ariadna, please see my sacrifices and my repentance and bring me back to life with your kiss, for my silent heart breaks at your indifference. Ariadna, my daring Ariadna, my heart weeps for the babe my dark kiss sent to the Elysian Fields without seeing the light of the sun. Please forgive this monster for your pain and bring him back to life with but one kiss and he will spend eternity at your feet.

Machiavellian De Pompeii

"That's the last of the entry. The next set dates to three years after this one, where he's exulting the virtues of Ariadna for the entire entry and his gladness at gaining her forgiveness. This seems to have aspects of a diary but not one that very well defined," I told them.

"Are there any other entries regarding feeding on animals or eating human food?" Edward asked from behind me looking over my shoulder. I typed in a search of the database, but came up only with this entry.

"No, not in this one. There are some entries that are in pieces because of the poor quality of the book, so it's possible that if there are any other entries they could be in there."

"We can try and translate them by hand," Carlisle told me. "But that will take a while, and I doubt there's gonna be much more mention."

"There could be more in the other books, which are still being worked on, either the Pompeii set or the other collections. I doubt Machiavellian was the first to discover feeding on animals as much as I doubt that he was the first to wonder if we could eat human food. The thought had even crossed my mind on a couple of occasions since yesterday while making food for the kids since I do actually have to douse them in blood for them to feed on. Actually, no wait, that's not true. I had thought about it many times since I found them and even remember mentioning it to Zelya, but she had told me it was not possible," I mentioned.

"Could we find out how food was eaten in that era? That might hold an answer for us as well," Esme mentioned.

"Barely cooked. I can recall being dragged along to one of Renée's interests, which was a pretty strange cooking class, probably why it stuck with me since I liked to cook. They taught us to cook primitively, with only the kinds of tools that would have been found in a primitive kitchen. I remember being taught to cook like servants would have cooked in a large Roman household. Vegetables were for the most part eaten raw just like the fruits, meats were barely cooked, only until the outside change colors, though the insides still bled, wine was watered down and the very sweet wines that they sell today are the closest you can find to those drinks of that time, Italian works best from what I remember. Deserts were either fruits or certain roman pastries, which are still served today in Italy though the recipes have changed somewhat to accommodate the changes in the human palette, like the addition of sugar. I remember seeing a special on Pompeii and there was a segment on their cooking, really on Roman cooking in the time of Pompeii, or as much as can be copied today. It's cooked over fire which is why meats are they way they are. I recall trying some of those cooking techniques with the children and they loved it, far more than the normal way I usually cooked for them, especially the meat which they used to say tasted a bit rubbery to them when it was fully cooked, but when I left it red and with blood, it was a hit. Actually, come to think of it, their favorite cooking is a mix of both, some things fully cooked like vegetables and some things rare, like meat, chicken's the only thing I ever served them that was fully cooked, it's nasty and dangerous otherwise. That I usually marinate in blood and other stuff for a while, along with any other meat, makes them taste better. There are fruits they like and fruits they don't like as well as vegetables and some I've see they cannot eat no matter what I do with it," I answered.

"So basically food would have to be specially prepared for us. We can't just go to a restaurant pour a bottle of blood over our plates ad eat it," Edward said.

"Untrue, I've gotten takeout for the kids too; I just mix it with blood and serve it up. Actually, we used to have a large cash of blood kept in the house. Zelya found a company in Japan that gathers animal blood and sells it. It let the children try a wider variety of foods. The entry's wrong about the blood. Cold blood, I'm sure is nasty, but the kids blood was kept preserved in the fridge. Zelya had told me that as long as it's warmed up it's perfectly fine to eat. She even tried some to show me. I had an aversion to blood as a human, I couldn't stand it's smell and if I smelled it, it would make me sick or pass out, so she handled that part, but I was able, ironically, to cook with it, and I saw the cooking utensils packed in the SUV, the ones used for blood," I told them.

"The entry's pretty vague, but he did say he eventually phased the blood out of the food. We could try cooking a meal for us, pour blood over it and see what happens, though we may never be able to face blood out completely," Carlisle said.

"We'll go hunt and bring the blood back, then we can cook wit it and see what happens," Edward said.

"There may not be a need. You know that the blood we were giving the kids was the one Zelya packed for them and it's gone now since there wasn't much to begin with. But there should still be plenty of blood in the second fridge back at the house. It may or may not be good, it all depends on whether or not there's still electricity back there since it's on the grid, but there was last night and I don't think it's been shut off yet. I know the kids were drinking it but we had just gotten a new shipment the day before I did what I did and it was our usual two-week supply. The kids could not have eaten it all and so there should still be plenty left," I said.

"What restaurant are you ordering from, Blood King or Mc Bloodards?" Emmett asked jokingly.

"A very fine and expensive restaurant called Le Sang Real, which delivers right to my door no hunting required," I joked with him.

"The Royal Blood?" Emmett raised his eyebrow at me.

"Yeah, I know. I couldn't help making the comparison to the Da Vinci Code after when she told me what the name of the company meant. Actually, it's a vampires for vampires company, or so she told me. They gather blood, human and animal and sell it to vampires. Their slogan is quite literally no hunting required. It's how the Romanians were feeding and she had told me that the Volturi were also customers. They use a cover story about being a research lab and that they were working on blood and stem cell research and have humans working there on those things, but the main activity of the place is selling blood to vampires, though animal blood is considered a specialty item. You could say that it's the vampire grocery store. But it's really pricey and meant more as a supplement to the diet than an actual food source. Animal blood was so uncommon a buy for them that they send large amounts at good prices simply because they don't sell much of it. Here," I got online and went to their website so they could see. "The store basically uses the research front to gather human donor blood, and it truly only is donor blood otherwise they might become suspect given the amount they usually go through, and sell it of. They sell some to hospitals but the members' only site lists their true intentions. You can get any kind of blood from any kind of human or animal, which are also used as donors and not killed after the animal donation protocol were created by veterinarians here in the States. There are some animals listed which I don't like because they are endangered or threatened species. They also sell items for use with blood which range from creative ways to serve it to storage devices." Everyone looked over the site for a while, laughing.

"It's not a bad idea, and maybe we might even try it in the future, but it's still better to hunt. The blood would be fresher for one thing, but also if we're too sedentary for too long our bodies begin to petrify and change. It's why both the Romanians and the Volturi have papery-looking skin and feel like they are brittle when you touch one. The Volturi brothers and their wives even have cataract-like white milky films over their eyes, which are permanent, inoperable and impede their eyesight somewhat. It is said that if we're too sedentary, give up hunting completely, we will eventually fully petrify, becoming nothing more than living, frozen statues for all time," Carlisle said. We all nodded in understanding. Emmett, Jasper and Edward headed out to go to my house and see if the blood was there. They called a little while later and said that there was plenty there and that it was still good so they packed it up along with the containment units and were coming back after shutting the power of at the house. Other than furniture there was nothing left. I told Edward that it was rented furniture and would call Rent-a-center to come pick it up and take it away and asked them to clean out the drive so it could be seen. He said they would, and, after we hung up I made the call, they would be by later to get everything. I made the excuse that we would be arranging a few final details before getting on the plane home so no one would be there and that the house was unlocked so they could come in. They said it would be no problem and they would lock up before they left. With that final call my last tie to my human life was cut. I could only go forward from here.

Once the boys arrived and had set up the blood fridge, we all set about helping to prepare dinner. Esme and I manned the stove while the others worked on various things. We added generous amounts of blood to the food as we cooked it and made sure to serve plenty to drink as well. I did the same thing with the kids when they were eating their dinner so we thought it could only help. A little before sunset, dinner was prepared. We all sat around the dining room table while the Denalis sat in the living room after the kids had eaten their dinner. We'd finally decided on steak with mashed potatoes and gravy, a cold vegetable salad with French dressing which I knew the babies liked because it was sweet, and a red velvet cake with vanilla icing; all served with two large jugs of bear and mountain lion blood. Cameron and Caitlyn had also wanted to try, so it was a packed table. Everyone looked at the food skeptically including me. "So, who's gonna bite the bullet?" Emmett asked after we had been staring at our plates for 5 minutes. We all looked at each other, no one really wanting to go first as the food smelled fairly repulsive to all of us.

"I know the kids all have different tastes so when we cooked this I just poured about a cup of blood into the food and mixed it up before serving. They add more from their cups as they want more, so I guess we would too, food smell fine to me, though not really edible so I think I might need more, how about everyone else?" They all nodded in agreement, but still no one bit the bullet.

"So we start with the one cup, and find our own preferences," Carlisle said, and I nodded. "It would also stand to reason that the food would not be appealing to us since it's not our natural meal, we're making it appeal by adding blood, which would explain why the food doesn't smell bad any more but not really edible. You may actually also have an easier time than the rest of us learning since you're a newborn and have been around this kind of meal for months, Bella along with being so close to your on humanity."

I nodded, "That brings up another point. Human children transition between liquid foods and solid foods in a similar way as do animals. Moms sometimes put some of their milk in the food that they are feeding soaking it really, in what the children normally eat and trick them into eating it, then they phase out the milk and just give solid food. Same with animals, when they're transitioning between milk and solid food owners put some of their milk in with the food so they get the taste they are accustomed to with a new one and once the puppy or kitten's used to this they take out the milk in stages and leave only the solid food. I guess this would be the same, right?" I mentioned.

"That's a good point, thought we might never be able to fully phase out the blood," Carlisle mentioned, and I had to agree.

"Which brings us back to my original question, who's gonna bite the bullet and eat this?" Emmett broke in. He was right, we were stalling, but no one really seemed to want to try. I just rolled my eyes and tipped my glass of blood as well as Edward's onto our plates, spilling the dark red blood all over the meals.

"Hmm, it does change the smell, not really edible, but closer," Edward said and the rest of the family followed suit and poured their own blood onto the food. I served a second glass for myself after adding a little more blood before mixing the blood into the food and taking the first bite. I chewed gently, thinking over the morsel in my mouth and the different flavors before swallowing and taking another bite.

"It's not bad," I said. "I probably need to add some more blood, but it actually taste a lot like I remember stake and mashed potatoes tasting," I mentioned as I spilled more blood on my plate and continued eating as I watched everyone else try their food too, and nodding in agreement. I took a drink from my glass while I ate, and was actually surprised. "Oh, so that's why the babies do this."

"What do you mean?" Edward asked me.

"Normally all the children take drinks of blood while they are eating, even the eightuplets which alternate between the milk bottle and the blood bottle. When I did it just now, it kind of, well, I guess you could say it woke up the flavor, if that's what that is. It tasted better, and went down easier," I told him. He tried as well and his eyes widened in surprise nodding his head in agreement. Everyone tried as well, and nodded in agreement.

Alice spoke up about half way through dinner, "You know, all of us by now should have been running to the bathroom to throw up."

Carlisle nodded, "We'll give it a half an hour after we finish dinner. If no one gets sick then I think we have our answer." We all nodded in agreement and finished our dinner plates. "How do we deal with this?" Carlisle asked as he gestured to the cake. "What do the kids normally do when you give them cake, Bella?"

"Jump up and down because I rarely let them eat this; too much sugar and they are hyper enough as it is, takes ages to put them to bed after they eat a plate of cake. Which reminds me, Rose, take Emmett's cake away. Do you really want to give him a plate of sugar, when he's worse than a three year old?" I laughed as Rose's eyes widened and she immediately took Emmett's cake and put it by Carlisle. We all cracked up as Emmett pouted. "Besides that, whether I made it myself or bought it, I just put it on a cake rack and soak it in a tub of blood for second before serving it, though if I made it then there's also blood in the baking mix. I forgot to do that this time, but it's not really important and it depended on the cake if blood could be added to the batter without ruining it and this happened to be one you couldn't. Cakes are like sponges, though. Soak up a lot of blood. I would guess that it would be more like biting into a soaking sponge if we're not careful." Carlisle nodded. I thought it over for a second. "I guess you could say I treat these like rum cakes. Baste them in blood until they're edible, though it does get a bit messy when you cut or bite into them since the blood spills out," I told them. They nodded and I ran back into the kitchen and got the baking rack and the pot I normally used for this along with the second, deep plates I usually used to serve cake and came back to the table. "I forgot these too, they're to keep the blood from spilling out, the kids just drink the blood when the cakes gone, high sugar content blood. Rose, you might wanna watch Emmett," I told everyone, and they laughed at my last statement. I put the pot in the middle of the table and poured the remaining blood on the jug into it, which was just enough for this exercise, Esme and I put everyone's plates, two at a time on the rack and soaked them before placing them in the secondary plates and passing them around. Esme took the pot and served up the blood in it to everyone, though we all eyed Emmett cautiously as he got his ration.

"What?" Emmett pouted at us.

"He's worse than a three year old. Should we really be giving Emmett **CAKE** and the blood it was soaking in?" Jasper questioned, jokingly, well kind of jokingly.

Esme and Carlisle looked at each other, "Just this once so he can try it, and I'm sure we're going to regret it," Carlisle sighed, resignation in his tone. We all laughed and Emmett's pout became more pronounced.

"I promise not to break anything," he grumbled.

"That's not really what we're worried about, Em," Edward said with a grin. "We're just worried about living with you while you calm down from a sugar high. I've seen three year olds on sugar overload and it's not a pretty sight. I can see why Bella rarely gives the babies cake. And giving it to you goes against everything we hold dear."

"Oh, just eat your cake, and leave me alone." Emmett grumbled.

"Don't mind if I do, it smells really good," Edward said and took a bite. "I think I've just become addicted to cake," Edward said to himself as I took my own bite. It was delicious, better than I remembered it being, but then it had been a very log time since I had been able to have cake of any kind. I was so glad I hadn't lost this after all, even though blood was an unheard of piece deliciousness in my mouth by itself. Hmm, maybe that was why this exercise worked? Everyone took their own bites and mentioned how good it was. The cake and cake blood was gone quickly and the dishes were cleared away from the table. Edward graciously volunteered the other males to wash the dishes, which we girls happily accepted, but his plan backfire when Carlisle grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him with them to wash the dishes, much to our enjoyment.

"You know, girls," Alice spoke up as we were sitting in the living room and hour later while the men were still washing dishes, Cameron and Caitlyn playing video games on the floor in front of us. "I've always heard there's one particular desert that's supposed to be better than sex. Bella, you wouldn't happen to have any would you?" she asked me and I grinned.

"Actually, I do. Zelya knew I loved chocolate and kept some around for me, the really good kind too. There's a human down the street from Charlie's house who had a bit of a crush on me," I told them as I stood up from the table and went to the little blood fridge where I kept my secret stash in. "He sent me presents every once in a while. Charlie never knew though. I've turned him down many times, but nothing deterred him. I've kept the chocolates he sent me to give to the kids as a treat every once in a while and I have them hidden right over here. They're actually the really good kind, expensive too as he was a bit older than me and had some money to spend. There are some Godiva chocolates as well as some Belgium chocolates and since they're in the fridge here they are kept cold and are good for a while," I told them returning to the living room with small bottles of blood and the chocolate boxes which were two pounds each and setting them on the table.

" **YOU KEEP PRESENTS FROM SOME OTHER GUY?!** " Edward yelled stomping out of the kitchen.

"Well, you weren't exactly giving me any and most of the presents I gave back and only kept the chocolate since I couldn't resist it and it made for a nice escape after Charlie had hurt me," I told him with a smirk as I took my bottle of blood and one of the layers of the Godiva box. "Besides I kept the chocolates for the kids and most of my stash came from Zelya, who's like an older sister to me." I poured some blood on the chocolates and then took one that was filled with cherry cream and ate it along with my blood. "MMMMM, I'm so glad I didn't loose this, these are divine," I said relishing the taste in my mouth. Edward growled and tried to take the box but I wouldn't let him. Esme, Alice, and Rose tried their own confections and moaned at the taste as I gave one of my chocolates to Cameron and one to Caitlyn, who also enjoyed them.

"So good," Alice moaned.

"Where did they get them? I want a case of them daily," Rose said.

"I think I like this better than my husband. No pain, no gore, just pleasure," Esme said as she ate another chocolate.

" **WHAT?** " Carlisle screamed stomping out of the kitchen wearing an apron and dish gloves with Emmett and Jasper following behind and snickering at him.

"Me too," Rose and Alice agreed as they dug into their own treats with gusto and shared them amongst them. That quickly stopped the snickering of Emmett and Jasper.

"I can't agree to that girls," I said and Edward smirked, his chest puffing up a bit. I put a chocolate to his lips, which he ate and smiled at me. "I haven't got a clue what you're talking about for obvious reasons," I said and laughed with the others as Edward's chest deflated. I could see in his eyes he would change that, and I very much wanted that though I wasn't quite ready for that yet. "Though if someone were to start bringing me things like this every once in a while, I would be **VERY** appreciative, wouldn't you?" The girls smirked and nodded. _**"HINT, HINT, Boys."**_ They didn't need to be told twice. They all ran back to the kitchen where we heard them playing with their cell phones, looking for really good chocolate for their mates. I wiggled my eyebrows at the other females with a smirk on my face. We had to draw them maps, but once they got the idea, we got what we wanted. We girls enjoyed the entire 4 boxes, two pounds of chocolate in each box, oh so pleased with the idea that we'd never gain weight from that little exercise. The Denali sisters also joined in the party and agreed with our notions. Poor Eleazar was going to be stuck providing chocolate for not only his mate but his sisters too. It was so good to know that not all things human had been lost to me, but even better to know how much better I was feeling about everything after so many years of torment, especially being secure in the knowledge that it would never happen again.

 **Chapter 11: New Home**

 **Bella POV**

The next day was chaotic as we got ready to move. Carlisle went in to the hospital bright and early to hand in his resignation effective immediately. He later told us that it had been Billy Black that had gone to the hospital yesterday trying to expose Carlisle as a vampire but that they had taken him as a loon just as Alice had said. Carlisle had made sure to explain to us what excuse he used so that when Emmett, Alice, Rose, and Edward went to school they had the exact same story. He had told his supervisor that he had received a call from a private detective hired by his estranged mother who was dying from breast cancer and wanted to make amends with her son before she died. Carlisle made up a story about how his mother had not agreed with his marriage to Esme and his decision to become a doctor among other things so she had basically ostracized him and cut off all ties with him. He hadn't seen or heard from his mother in many years and didn't know where she had moved to after she had terminated ties with him until her PI had contacted him with the news. Carlisle had been told that his mother did not have much longer and the family had decided that instead of a trip down to visit her it would be better to move with her so that they could spent her remaining time with her since it wasn't exactly clear how much longer she had left, it all depended on how much fight was left in her. He made it a point of acting as if he were near tears for the duration of the meeting and the doctor had bought it hook, line and sinker. After he told us that, Edward and the others went with Esme to the school so she could get their transfer papers and they could clean out their lockers, as they would be leaving soon. The kids made it a point of spreading the news at school and acting also near tears, something I was allowed to watch from the forest with Carlisle beside me since it was a good opportunity to test me out and also start teaching me how to fake certain human reactions. After that we all met back home and continued packing, the Denalis having gone home early that morning though we would see them in a few days. Our offer on the property was accepted and we all now owned the property. I learned that the family made it a practice on helping to pay for each home they bought together and I too helped out, not because one alone couldn't afford the price tag on any real estate with the contents of their wallets alone, never mind the bank accounts that kept growing with Alice and her knack in the stock market, they bought properties together because it was the tradition in the family signifying, to me at least, part of the bond.

The price tag on that piece of property had been eye watering though; I mean 16.5 million dollars wasn't exactly chump change. But Edward said it was nothing much really, that they had owned other property that expensive over the years and Carlisle had even gone and bought a private island resort for Esme for their 80th wedding anniversary in South America which had been more expensive than that. I was floored when he said that and treated it so nonchalant as if it were a minor issue, but he explained that when you lived forever, money was just something that accumulated over the years, particularly if you had a sister with an uncanny ability to predict the stock market and could make 10 times that amount in a day of trading on the market. I had a hard time grasping the fact that they had more money than most countries piled away in various overflowing accounts all over the world. It made that inheritance I got look exceedingly puny in comparison. Alice actually said that she would help me increase it on the market. I wasn't sure about it but she said that what we did actually helped keep something like the crash of the 30's from happening again. By investing in different ventures and playing with those investments we were actually helping to sustain the world economy, even if we were piling up large amounts of cash as well. That by playing on investments we could help keep the economy on track. It wasn't enough to prevent the recession as this is a normal economic trend, but it helped keep the crash of the 30's from happening again. Considering everything, I decided to just let her have her fun and handed her my accounts to play with along with the elder children's accounts with their approval. It might not be a bad idea after all to sequester large amounts of money since we would live forever and who knew what could happen in the future. Alice had actually told me that she would be converting all of the money into gold as paper money might be unreliable later on and that the gold would be a safer bet. I didn't want to imagine what 345.3 million dollars worth of gold might looked like but I had a feeling that the national treasuries of all of the countries in all of the continents would not have nearly as much gold as what the family had sequestered away.

Edward laughed when I mentioned that and said it wasn't as much as I thought and that there was still large amounts left as paper money or other valuable items like stocks and bonds. I asked him, jokingly, that if I wanted my own continent, if we could buy it. He said very seriously that, while it might be hard to get the various governments to agree to the sale, we could buy a few continents if we wanted to. My jaw hit the floor when I could see that he wasn't kidding and he laughed at my expression and told me to relax, that, though it was possible in theory, the reality was that there were many things against that. But then he whispered in my ear, "Though if you really want a piece of real estate like that, I suppose I could get you your own private island to make a vacation home like Carlisle did for Esme, maybe something in the Caribbean where we could escape to and be alone in the sun by the beach. Or maybe an island in New Zealand since it had plenty of uninhabited islands that could and have been bought in the past by private owners. It'll just take a little planning, but we could make our own Swiss Family Robinson retreat, or perhaps reenact Castaway." He then closed my jaw for me since it had dropped open when I realized he was serious; he really would do that and I could imagine both scenarios and kind of wanted them, particularly the alone on a deserted island with him, emphasis on **alone**. I knew I wasn't ready for anything like that; there were too many scars in me and bleeding wounds still needing to heal, but I decided to take it as a good sign that I could think about having an intimate relationship with Edward even after all I had been through and knowing that my wounds were still too raw and too new to allow for that. I think part of it was that I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that I could trust Edward not to hurt me as so many others had. I still had a long road ahead but I could see, if dimly, the light at the end of the tunnel.

Over the few days we took to pack, Carlisle had spoken to me more about what had happened too and he thought that perhaps, though I was doing well, it would help me to get all of it off my chest. He knew that I had given more details to the girls when I had gotten over my newborn confusion, but he also knew that there would be far more still haunting me and needing to be purged as well to put it all behind me. He recommended a technique often used with rape victims where they are given a notebook to put their thoughts in and write everything down as a way to help purge everything. He assured me that it was private and I needn't show it to anyone if I didn't want to but that it would represent a safe place for me to let everything go and not be fearful of judgment which he knew was how I felt talking to anyone about it, a very common reaction he told me. "A piece of paper and a pen won't feel like they are judging you, though I assure you no one is. And it can take everything you put in it and won't share anything with anyone unless you choose to show what you wrote to someone," he told me as he handed me a thick pink and gold notebook, more similar to a book than a notebook. I smiled and nodded thinking it couldn't hurt and, all the wile, knowing that it was easier to write things down than telling someone else. I took the notebook to my room and placed it in my bags, I would work on that later; I didn't feel quite ready yet for it and Carlisle had said that I could take all the time I wanted. _**Maybe if I write everything down, I can just leave the memories there on the paper close he book and forget. It couldn't hurt to try either way.**_ After my talk with Carlisle, we were done packing and headed for Denali.

The drive up was incredibly boring. I started to wonder if humans had bladders just to make monotonous trips less boring. Edward and I were in my SUV, which we had gotten proper papers for, along with all the kids which were in their toy cars again just as I had told Edward we did so all the kids could travel in one car, with Edward driving; Alice and Jasper were driving his Volvo and Vanquish just ahead of us. I'd resorted to playing computer games when I wasn't taking care of something for the children to pass the time. We were the last car in the convoy, but we all had to stop several times for the sake of the children that traveled with us so the trip took a little over a day. I wasn't looking forward to going to Denali, mainly because we would be staying with them for 2 weeks before heading to the new home and I wasn't looking forward to spending any more time in Tanya's presence. Her glares bothered me, and that was pretty much the only way she looked at me. For someone with my history, I have to admit that she scared me a little, but mostly she just pissed me off and annoyed me. She was pissed that I had won Edward, even with how broken I was and I had overheard her making nasty comments about me to her sister Irina before they had left, something along the lines of my being a prostitute and that I had deserved all I got. It made me cry and run off, hurt. It had actually worried everyone when I was suddenly gone, but Edward was able to find me as I had not gone very far away and soothed my hurt feelings with light kisses and loving words. He told me not to pay attention to her, that she was just a jealous bitch, not worth listening to. It helped me to know that he was just as annoyed by her and angry. I remembered Esme's words and knew that this was bound to happen for some time still, mere words would have the power to hurt me and that for every step forward I would take two steps back, that incident had been a good example, I'd been doing so well, but Tanya's words had really hurt me and made me fall back into old patterns before Edward was able to help pull me back.

It was a very good thing that the Denalis had been gone by the time Edward and I returned because I was pretty sure Edward would have had a few words for his cousin, but then I knew Alice had seen what happened and she and Rose had let her have it. It was more than clear that similar incidents were bound to happen during this trip and any time they came for a visit to the new house, as well as more of Tanya trying to get in between whatever it was that Edward and I had since I wasn't really sure what we were building here quite yet, and neither of us would enjoy the trip. Perhaps I should ask Edward to get us a private island in New Zealand just so we didn't have to go to Denali. The closer we got to our destination the better my idea sounded. As we neared the town of Denali, Edward broke the comfortable silence we had been engaged in; it was past midnight and so the babies were sleeping so we spoke in whispers. "I really wish we could stay in town and not head to their house," he said.

"I know, I was thinking the same thing, but why can't we?" I asked.

"Mainly, we used to live here and it's only been a decade or so since we moved so a lot of people might still remember us. But it's also partly for you. There are a lot of humans around, and though you have amazing self-control, it's really not wise to push you too far too soon. You're only 5 days old after all. We all thought it would be better to ease you into contact with humans slowly, rather than just throwing you in the deep end of the pool and hope you can swim."

"Oh, still it would be nice to get away from Miss-I-can't-take-a-hint," I said.

"Well look who's being nice with her words. I heard you use much more, uhm, **colorful** words a couple of days ago," Edward teased me.

"Well, though the kids are out cold, I really don't want them learning that kind of language," I giggled.

"We'll need to keep them away from Emmett then. He's got quite the potty mouth, to put it lightly," Edward laughed.

I laughed with him, "Yes, but I'm sure Rose will have his head if he starts using that kind of language around the children, whether hers or ours, after all, it only takes one kid to learn those words and they will spread to the others like the plague, pretty darn fast."

"True, true," he answered. Then he sighed, "I'd prolong the inevitable and take us for a quick hunt, but with the kids out cold it's not a wise idea."

"Well, I had a thought about that." He looked at me curiously. "How long would it take us to get a private island far from here?"

"Sorry sweetie, but that only works if we already have it. It'll take a while to secure a suitable one and then there's building somewhere to live, which will take a while, even at vampire speed. Then there's arranging for a cleaning staff unless we choose to do the work ourselves while we're there, which isn't fun since we are on a vacation, and leaving the finding of a cleaning staff for after we leave to keep the place up. Then there's the whole getting there with the children. It would be at least 3 months or so before we could secure all that. Isle Esme took Carlisle about a year to secure. But if you really want it, I could get to work on it and we could have it, hopefully, in time for a Christmas getaway."

I smiled at him. "I won't deny that the thought of a private island getaway is wonderful, and I'm sure the kids would love it as well. But I don't think I'm quite ready for something like that yet." He nodded. "Though I wonder how jealous Tanya would be if we did that?"

Edward grinned, "Well, I could ask Esme if we could borrow her island and find out. Hey, actually, that's not a bad idea. We could take the kids and go and then not have to go to their house at all." His phone bussed indicating a text message. I picked it up and read it out loud since he was driving and really needed to concentrate on the somewhat treacherous road.

 _ **Don't even think about it. Besides Esme will say no, she doesn't want you guys away yet. Don't worry it won't be so bad… Alice.**_

"Yeah sure it won't be Alice. You do remember what happened back at the house right? Or what's been going on for years, right?" Edward said. The phone bussed again.

 _ **Okay so it will be that bad, and probably worse. But we'll all look out for you guys and you can always go hunting when she annoys you too much. Bella's a newborn after all and needs to feed more often than we do. It's only for two weeks and then we'll go to our new home… Alice.**_

"Can't we just skip the trip, at least Edward and I, and head on to the house?" I wondered and the phone bussed.

 _ **No, the old owners will need at least 10 days to clean out their stuff. Then they're also having the place painted and that's something that we don't want the children to be around of because of the fumes. It'll be okay guys and we could find ways to keep her away from you guys. Now watch the road, Edward. We're heading up the mountain and you know the path is treacherous in the dark, even for us…Alice.**_

"I guess we'll just have to bite the bullet and head on in. We're a few minutes away from the house now, but I have to slow down since we have to climb the mountain before getting there," I nodded. I looked out the window and marveled at the beautiful scenery. Alaska truly was a beautiful place, and I could see why they called it the last untamed wilderness. Even though we had just left town, we were in the middle of an ancient wood mostly left untouched by the ravages of man. It was almost spring, but there was still plenty of deep snow on the ground. "It snows here most of the year, spring, summer and autumn are actually fairly short seasons so far up north," Edward told me, noticing my looking confused at the snow. "Actually, there's barely a spring season, most people just think of it as part of the summer. It'll be a while still before the snows start to melt and you'll find areas where the snow hasn't melted even in the middle of summer, but it's they're much further up north, into the tundra. If it's not snowing, it's just cold, though it doesn't bother us. It'll never really be warm enough here to just wear tank tops and shorts outside, at least not in public. There's also a good portion of the year where it'll be more or less night skies even at noon. And the summer season is mostly daylight, but the area around Denali tends to be fairly cloudy most of the time, like Juno where we used to live and in the place where we're going near Hope, Alaska, one of the towns Alice spoke off. Actually most of the school season is spent here going to school in darkness and can be quite confusing at first," Edward told me.

I smiled, "I never really used to like snow before, or anything cold or wet for that matter. It just wasn't something I saw much of while living in the Valley of the Sun. It's part of the reason why I detested coming to Forks to visit my father even as a little girl; it wasn't that I didn't want spend time with him, it was just that it was so depressing having to live under almost perpetual clouds and gloom and rain," I told him. "Still when I was little and Renée let me come be with him for Christmas, Charlie would take me further inland to Oregon, or even parts of Washington that were away from the coast so that I could see snow. I liked it when I was little, so long as I was wearing a lot of layers and something that was impermeable so I wouldn't get cold or wet, and I loved playing in the snow. He once took me to this tiny hole-in-the-wall town, a bit smaller than Forks, in Oregon, where they had set up a Santa's village. I was 3 and it's actually one of my earliest memories, I thought it was a fairytale, getting to play with reindeer and dance with the elves. There was a beautiful baby doll with a china face that had been in the display case at the toy store in the village. It was hand made and very expensive. I had loved it and wanted it, but Charlie couldn't afford it. I felt crushed when he said no and we headed back to his house. Then on Christmas morning, I woke up and ran downstairs to the tree in the living room. There were lots and lots of boxes there. Charlie couldn't really afford getting me a lot of toys but he had a lot of friends who had gotten me presents, and then of course there was my ever-doting grandmother who would buy me tons of presents no matter what. I remember how much fun I had tearing through the wrapping paper to find my presents. But there is only one present I remember getting, the china baby doll. Charlie had bought it for me after all, even though he really couldn't afford it. I loved that doll more than anything and was pretty much the only toy I kept growing up. When I was 10 though, Renée made me get rid of it. She thought I was too old for dolls, even though in reality, I was still young enough. Besides, according to her, that doll was old, worn, dirty and worthless. I remember crying and pleading to keep my doll, but she wouldn't let me and threw it in the garbage. But I circumvented her. I pulled the doll out of the garbage and called Gran and asked her to keep the doll for me. She agreed wholeheartedly and I mailed it to her. I never saw it again, even when visiting her."

I smiled with a tear in my eye. "Before we left I finally got the courage to open the jewelry box and look through it. It was all there, all of Gran's jewels. I even found an old silver hand mirror and hairbrush set, which I remember her using on me when she was dressing me for my ' **wedding** '. At the bottom drawer, covered in a blanket that she had woven was my baby doll. Gran had restored her to the way she was when Charlie gave her to me. Beneath the doll was a picture of me at 3 holding the doll; the picture Charlie took that Christmas morning. Beside it was the tiara she had put on me for the wedding and the pictures she had taken of me that day. The box was huge as you know, but it didn't just contain jewels. Gran had stored memories in there as well. Charlie's christening clothes and pictures of him that day. A couple of baby albums, both mine. A few baby clothes she'd made for me as a baby along with the pictures of me wearing them. Charlie's nametag from when he was in the police academy and a picture of him in uniform on his graduation day at the academy. She also stored memories she wouldn't get to see herself." I smiled sadly. "She made baby clothes for my children and blankets, 15 in total as well as clothes for older children, 15 as well. I'm gonna try them on the kids later to see if they might fit. There was a large drawer full of baby clothes that she had made with her own two hands. In that drawer I found also a letter. It was from her." I pulled it out of my pocket and showed it to him, before reading it.

My Darling Bella Doll.

As I pen this letter, I am filled with so much joy and equal amounts of sadness. I am now very ill and will not get to see you grow up into the beautiful, caring amazing young woman I know you will become. I am so thankful to have had as much time with you, my little doll, as I have had. I've been sick for such a long time, that I had feared I would not get to see you much at all. I love you, my little doll, and hope for nothing but good things for you in your future. There will be stumbling blocks in your life, but don't let them get you down and remember what I always told you baby. Life will always have good things for you no matter how hard the road might be. I'll be watching over you always little doll, and will be there for you, even if you can't see me. I've left you my treasure box and hope you'll fill it with the treasures of your own life just as I have with mine. And I don't mean the jewelry; you and Charlie and your Aunt Marlene have always been my greatest treasures. Your father is a good man, though I fear he will become sick as his father had before him. If he does, do not let him ruin your bright future. If he does, just forget him and move on. Remember him as the good man and not as the monster that will undoubtedly hurt you just as his father hurt Charlie's sister Marlene. I have known for years that inside your father rested a monster, a monster past down to him from his father. I hope the monster does not rear his ugly head as it did with your Pops, who was a good man, but with a monster he couldn't control inside just like your dad. Just live your life and forget. It'll be all right in the end, you'll see.

I love you my darling little doll.

Love hugs and many, many kisses…

Gran

"Gran knew what Charlie would become when I grew older. I think she might have sensed it but was unable to do anything. I checked some papers that were enclosed in the box as well. And apparently, mental illness runs in my dad's family, grandpa's side of it to be precise. I found a family tree and some diagnosis papers. The name of the disease was crossed out, but the explanation said that it's passed down from father to son only and that it was a disease, which degraded connections in the brain turning the person insane. It can make them aggressive, abusive and it's usually directed at women and girls, particularly the blood related ones. It's part physical illness and part mental illness. Gran's diary said that it made grandpa do pretty much the same thing that Charlie did to me, to my aunt Marlene. I never met her; she died at 19 after enduring years and years of abuse from gramps. She didn't commit suicide like I did; supposedly gramps threw her down the stairs and she broke her neck. Gran knew what really happened to her though. My aunt was a vampire buff. She loved the occult and all that junk. Some of the stuff Gran saved for her have to do with that. Gran wrote about how she fell in with a couple that seemed very strange to her. From her descriptions I know they are vampires. Aunt Marlene had told her mother that if something happened to her, she should call them. In desperation to save her, she did just that and the man and woman came and took my aunt away. They staged what happened to her and gramps was locked up in a mental institution where he died a few months later of a heart attack. It wasn't until I was a year old that Gran learned what happened to Marlene. She had become like the man and woman, or so the diary said. My aunt had contacted her. She wanted to meet me. Gran was ecstatic and took me to see her at once and the man and woman were there, 10 some odd years after the whole debacle and she was alive and completely unchanged just as they were. There's a picture of her holding me in her lap. It was the one and only time my aunt ever contacted her mother and the one and only time I ever saw her though I don't remember her. The man and woman were in the picture too. I don't know the man, but I do know the woman. It was Zelya. I don't know if Zelya recognized me; after all I was only a baby when she first saw me, but it would explain why she was so protective of me, well as much as she could be in the circumstances. She must have done it for my aunt. And it's possible my aunt's alive somewhere. Her eyes were red though, so I know she was a traditional vampire."

Edward was silent for some time as we drove into the night, "It seems as though you have been around our kind before. It may be possible she didn't recognize you, babies smell different than older children or teenagers. They have some of the same innate smell of that person, but it's different, like they smell of new blood; I'm not sure how to describe it. We could try to find out, though, maybe try and find your aunt if you want."

"No, no I don't want to. I just wanted to tell you what I found. If I run into her later that's fine, but I don't really want to meet her. I just want to put Charlie and his crazy blood behind me. I'll take Gran's advice and forget everything. I'll remember only the kind father who bought me the doll and forget everything else; it's not really worth remembering anyway," I told him confidently. He smiled a brilliant smile at me, and I could read in his eyes that he was glad of my choice. Not because I didn't want to meet my aunt, I was sure, but because I had decided to put all of that behind me. He knew as well as I did that it was big step. He took my hand in his own as he continued to drive down the hill and eventually we arrived at the Denali home.

T he Denali's home was grand. It looked like a mansion or 5-star hotel trying to masquerade as a log cabin. I loved it. It was clear that they had put a lot of work on it over the years and still continued to do so to maintain it in its pristine shape. Edward pulled the SUV into the garage, explaining that it was the garage that the family usually used when they visited and that the cars couldn't be left outside because the snow and cold would damage them. I nodded as I got out and we headed around to the back of the SUV to open the door while I extended the ramp so we could pull the toys out. I pressed the button on the side panel to release the restraints on the wheels of the toys while Edward worked on the ramp which was manual, complaining about figuring out a way to make it an automatic. After 5 minutes of letting him wrestle with it, I decided to teach Mr.-Know-It-All a little lesson in humility and took over unfolding the ramp and having it set up and secure within a minute. Edward was definitely eating humble pie with that one, particularly since I had shown him how to work it before and it was clear he had not paid attention. He took the controller for the mini SUV from the panel while I took the controller for the Vanquish and we steered them down the ramp and into the house, with everyone watching and laughing at Edward. The living room was massive, but somehow managed to look cozy despite its size and two-story floor to ceiling windows. In one corner a fire roared in a huge white stone hearth, and in the adjacent corner a staircase curved grandly away to the second floor. Between the staircase and us was a clutch of rustic leather sofas arranged in a casual formation. The walls were bare wood, like a log cabin with various paintings and other adornments hung around on the walls. All in all the house was three stories with a wrap around veranda outside going most of the way around the house. It fit so well into the landscape that you might think it grew out of the ground as a natural formation yet was ultra slick and modern as well.

There were a total of 14 bedrooms, so it would be a tight fit with all of the children. Everyone took their usual guest rooms on the third floor. Alice and Jasper shared the suite done in tones of blue, Carlisle and Esme shared the one done in tones of cream and their twin babies would be sleeping in the room with them since it was fairly large and had a division between the sitting area and the actual bedroom so their babies would sleep in their bassinettes set up in the sitting room. Rose and Emmett shared the suite next to Alice and Jasper's done in tones of dark burgundy with their twins also staying with them. Edward and I decided to share his usual guest suite, which was beside Esme and Carlisle's and was done in tones of green and light gray. It was too small for us to put the eightuplets in there with us so they took the one right in front of ours which was painted yellow but had nothing inside and Edward had told me it was sometimes used for storing furniture but that Kate had cleaned it out since we were coming and it would be needed because of the now tight squeeze of so many people in the house. I gave my room to Akasha, Briseis, and Caitlyn, which was light blue in color and was right beside the babies' room. Cameron, Lestat, Tarquin and Achilles shared the room down the hall from ours done in earth tones which was the last room on the third floor. The Denalis all shared the second floor of the house and it truly was a bit of a tight squeeze with all of us here. It was very late so Edward and I tucked the children into bed and went to our room to relax. It was clear we would spend a lot of time in here trying to hide from Tanya. I growled at the memory, we hadn't even come into the house and already she tried to throw herself at Edward, it was pathetic really and very desperate. And also extremely angering. She had hugged Edward for much longer than a simple greeting required and had tried to lower her hands down his back to cup his ass. I nearly ripped her head off for that. But Edward, ever adept at getting away from her, had managed to get out of her grasp. We headed up after that, but I made a mental note to talk to Carlisle about this, maybe he could get the bitch to back off.

Edward and I settled into my study session, starting with history. We had been working on my studies at night for a few days and had already covered most of American history. We actually found that I just needed a refresher on the things we had previously thought I had forgotten, except Trig and Calculus, which really had gone out the window. Edward assured me that now, with my vampire brain, those courses, which had been so challenging for me before would now be stupidly easy. Edward was such a wonderful teacher, and he made studying such fun, but really I just loved hearing his voice as he explained things to me. After history we moved on to my math lessons. He had been right that now math was very easy, but it didn't mean I liked it any better. We worked on that for a couple of hours before moving on to my science lesson, this time on genetics and genetic disorders. I speculated on the peculiarities of vampire DNA and the changing process, theorizing that perhaps we had a common ancestor with humans and on what exactly happened during the burning pain of the change, thinking that it was, perhaps something like what was shown in the Spiderman movie, where the foreign DNA attached to the double helix and spread from cell to cell, like a virus reproduction. Edward thought it was very possible and not outside the realm of possibility. I also wondered if the parental DNA would be transferred form sire to fledgling considering that the youngest of the kids actually looked a lot like Carlisle as well as us. Again Edward thought it was a possibility. After that, we worked on literature, and I forced myself to re-read Moby Dick. I had always hated that novel, mainly because I found it so boring and the plot so flat, Edward agreed with me, but reminded me that I could read it at vampire speed, be done with it in a couple of hours and always have the information available when I needed it so I would only have to read it once. I forced myself to get through it and we worked on some things about the novel as well. After that, Carlisle helped me with my Anatomy and Physiology and Esme helped me with my Spanish lesson since Edward had little patience with that particular language, though he was fluent in it. We continued this pattern for a few more hours, until morning came and the kids awoke.

Staying with the Denalis wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, mainly because Emmett, Alice, Rosalie and Jasper ran interference for me and Edward where Tanya was concerned, but also because Edward and I spent much time working on my studies and with the children which gave her little chance to make problems. But then there were those instances where I really wanted to rip her head off and would have had Alice and Rose not given me some advice on a better payback. I wasn't ready for the one that would make her back off some more, having sexual relations with Edward, though I hoped to be headed in the right direction. But I was able to make out with him, and do other things with him, which would make her leave grumbling for a while though she always came back. Although her attempts had done some good in that they had pissed me off enough that I had found myself suddenly reading minds, which I knew to be one of my copied powers, as well as giving me the key to finding the powers locked within myself. One time, Edward was in the library looking for a novel for one of my studies, another of my least favorites, the Scarlet Pimpernel, which I didn't like reading because I thought it was so much better when performed in the theater rather than just reading it in a book. Tanya came into the library, wearing only a braw and some tiny panties that looked more like dental floss and barely covered anything. It was disgusting. She thought that because I wasn't ready to sleep with Edward, given what I had been through that she could steal him from me that way, by offering him what she thought he needed which I couldn't provide, though she'd been offering him that very thing for years and he turned her down every single time, so why she thought he would accept now, I had no idea. It was not only disgusting to the extreme but also pathetic, and desperate and just plain old mean. I had been through hell with the rapes and abuse of my father and stepfather and just needed some time to get over that so I could have a normal relationship with Edward, but she didn't seem to grasp that. The first time she had done it, I spent an hour crying in Esme's arms with both of my sisters trying to help comfort me, which severely pissed then as well as Edward, and my brothers off. Carlisle had been away from the house and up at the new place, finalizing some details, but he wasn't happy either when he found out what happened from my brothers when he came home. I knew he'd had a talk with Tanya, but she just couldn't take a hint.

This time though, when she tried to corner Edward in the library, I had advanced warning because of the mind reading and was right behind her. I was so pissed by it that I figured out how to use the power over the elements and promptly sent a small blast of fire into her ass as I threw her out the window. It wasn't enough to hurt her, Carlisle had told me later on after treating her, with a really big proud papa smile on his face, which he could not swallow even as he was scolding me for that one, so his reprimand was pretty much weightless. But it had been enough to get her to stop, for a while at least, though whenever she did try something I merely had to make a ball of fire appear in my hand, which amazingly didn't hurt me at all even though I was now flammable, to get her to leave since she knew I could make the ball much bigger and deadlier if I wanted and it would not be wise to piss me off or push me too far; I was after all a newborn vampire, only a couple of weeks old with a volatile and unpredictable temper though I had a fairly calm nature, but then everyone had a limit to their patience and she really didn't want to find out mine, though she still wanted Edward for herself. Edward, of course, was trilled since it meant he could enjoy some peace in his mind as well as from running from her. After all I too could read minds now and could hear her fantasies as well, and the fireball threat worked for that as well. It earned me an awful lot of kisses and cuddles from Edward so I was never too pissed of.

Tanya's sisters had a blast watching me put her in her place so quickly as Tanya was known for taking many a man, well many a human man since vampires mate for life, from their mates. Kate also had a lot of interest in my gifts and promptly started helping me to control them, after I figured out the trigger. I was definitely not happy when she chose Edward as a target and tried her gift of electric shocks on him while I tried to wrestle my shield around him to protect him. I was even less trilled when she chose to call Cameron over to help and downright pissed off when she told him to bring one of his newborn baby sisters with him, he chose Renesmee. I was so pissed that everything I saw with my eyes had a tinge of red to it; I could taste a hot burning metal taste on my tongue and my veins felt like there was boiling lava in them and not the good happy kind that I got when Edward kissed me. I felt as if something exploded inside me and when she approached us intending to touch my babies with her gift and hurt them – okay not really she was a mother after all and would not really do anything to hurt them but it sure felt that way to me, which was kind of the point of the whole exercise – I felt as if a mushroom cloud of something had spread from me to encompass them in protective steel as I held them to my chest and backed away from her. She turned from me and asked Edward if he could still hear the children's thoughts since he was outside my protection and he darted in between me and her before I could attack her saying that no he could not. By putting himself between us, he saved her life since that moment of distraction was all I needed to attack, but would not with him in the way. When I was calm enough to think clearly, I realized that the children had been in on her plan and had known she wouldn't actually hurt them, just make me think that she was and that Edward had been in on the idea. I had a lot of potential but really needed to be pushed so I could achieve it in the shortest amount of time. We weren't in danger yet, but the fact that Alice could see a possibility of danger from the Volturi in the future made it more urgent for me to learn and fast. When I was calm enough, I allowed her to continue, but touching Edward only as I had expanded my shield to encompass him as well. He could feel nothing, not even at Kate's maximum intensity, but it was really taxing to keep it up.

Eleazar believed that I had a harder time using the gifts I was born with because I had no idea how to do so, but that the gifts that were copied from others must come with some sort of mental instruction manual so to speak, with an idea of how they are to be used, so when I find them I merely need to practice flex the mental muscle that controlled them but I can easily use them. This intrigued Carlisle greatly and he thought that perhaps I might copy the knowledge the vampire had of their gifts so I could use them too. He resolved to help me work on my gifts along with everyone else, train me in the use of them, with the advantage of knowing that my trigger was not just anger but also protectiveness of someone I cared about, Edward and the children working best. We would continue to work on my gifts at the new house which we would be moving to today. In fact, Edward and I were back in the SUV driving our family to Hope, Alaska. I was broken form my thoughts by Edward taking my hand in his own. "Penny for your thoughts?" he asked.

"Just thinking about all that happened in the last two weeks, is all," I told him and he laughed.

"I still find it so incredibly hilarious how scared Tanya was of your element power. You know I kept meaning to ask, why you used fire since we know you can use all 4 and kept using that one?" he asked laughing.

"Mostly, the first time it was all I could think of and she should be glad that it was only a small ball of fire and I didn't turn her to ashes considering how pissed she made me. The other times I had more control to choose; water would not work since it would make the barely there stuff she was wearing more see-through which was the last thing I wanted, wind might rip the dental floss off, also to be avoided. And earth, well all it would do, would be to knock her off her feet and maybe into a canyon which meant you would have had to save her, so fire worked best." Edward and the kids laughed, particularly at my serious look before I too cracked up and dropped the act. "Actually, I hope she visits often. I can use the target practice and the girls and I have such fun when I humiliate her like that." We laughed before I became serious again. "I'm just glad that Kate, Irina, Carmen and Eleazar aren't mad at me for hurting her that time. I know I've already caused a lot of trouble for your family and well…"

He cut me off my pinching my lips shut, "First, they are your family too, Bella, and don't forget that. Second, you are not in any circumstance causing trouble. You completed our family for us and made us, especially me, extremely happy. You were meant to be with us, meant to be part of us. And Kate, Irina, Carmen and Eleazar can't get mad at something Tanya is causing all by herself. She may be their sister, but they too know how pathetic and disgusting her little displays with me are. She's crossed the line more times than I care to remember and needs to be put in her place and mere words don't do the trick otherwise they would have worked decades ago. They also know you wouldn't really hurt her, but you are a newborn and she should really remember that before trying to piss you off by going after me. Besides all that, they too were having fun watching her be put in her place, she's quite the spoiled brat that thinks her looks and her looks alone hold up the world. Rose was like that too, but not nearly to the same scale and her kids have mellowed her out quite a bit. They know that Tanya's a good person, but really too desperate for attention and to find her mate, even if it means going after people not interested and/or already taken, in fact they're more fun to her if they are taken. We both know she's not really in love with me, it just pisses her off that I said no when no man, except Carlisle, had ever done that, and that I find you attractive where her I found very lacking. I don't deny that she's beautiful, but her beauty really runs skin deep and that not enough for anyone." Then he smiled and tapped my nose lovingly making me smile too. "Besides, I prefer cute little brunettes with big eyes and a smile that can light up the world." He placed a kiss on my lips, keeping away any doubts that might have crept up into my mind, we hadn't said the words officially yet but it was clear we loved each other.

"Well, she is blond after all," I said kissing his cheek.

"Strawberry blonde, not my type at all. The only blondes I like are my daughters and sons," he said as he ran a hand through my hair. "Well, now that we've got that cleared up, lets enjoy the rest of the drive, we'll be there in about an hour." I smiled at him and we continued to talk about the various things we would do in our new home. It was decided that I would be home schooled for the duration of the semester since I still needed to catch up on so much and also because I needed more time to work on being around humans. Different outings with the family, like going shopping, had gone fairly well, apart from my dislike of shopping, but Carlisle believed that a school setting where I would be constantly surrounded by humans for 8 hours a day 5 days a week was a bit too much to ask for from my self control. He doubted I would have a lapse, mainly because he witnessed for himself my control when we accidentally ran into some humans in the woods while we had been in the middle of a hunt and I did the same as I had done before and ran away from them, but it was still better safe than sorry. Jasper and I would be working together with him to expose me to humans and also help to increase his tolerance. I had copied Jasper's empathic gift proving Eleazar right in his belief that I could still mimic a gift as a vampire. And we had found through that that Jasper's main problem with blood was the fact that he could feel the thirst of every vampire around him and had to fight not only his own but the thirst of everyone else. He wasn't weak as he thought he was, but one of the strongest because he could resist despite the amplified thirst he felt. It would be safe to assume that he probably would never be able to ignore the thirst like Carlisle does and would probably always struggle a bit but he could increase his tolerance so his struggles would be far less and he wouldn't always be so ruled by it. We also resolved to hunt more often to help him out so that our struggles wouldn't become his and none of us ever let him go too long without feeding since that only made things worse.

We were still practicing with eating human food, particularly how to hide the mixing of blood into food so that we could eat in public without attracting notice. Amazingly the spilled blood that we poured on the food didn't send anyone into a frenzy which was a definite plus. The other would be eating lunch for the first time in a school cafeteria. I warned Esme, though, that it probably would best if they brought food from home because I remembered that school cafeteria food was barely edible on the best days when I was human and I doubted blood would help it out all that much. Carlisle would also be getting food from home since hospital food was downright nasty on it's best days, besides we had found we couldn't eat very high salt content or very spicy food, and most school food had a lot of preservatives which were basically salt baths. Also we had found that we couldn't eat anything we had been allergic to when human; it wouldn't hurt us like it did when we were human, but we physically could not swallow them no matter how much blood we drank with it. So I couldn't eat nuts, Rose could not eat peaches and Jasper found that he couldn't eat Brussels sprouts; I was trilled with that since it meant we all wouldn't eat them and I had hated them as a human. But other than that, we were able to enjoy the foods we had eaten as humans. Which we took full advantage of and enjoyed.

Hope, Alaska was a beautiful little town. It was like stepping into a time capsule. You could see old, historic buildings from the gold rush era surrounded by more contemporary buildings. Many of the homes in the town were traditional Alaskan wood cabins or wooden structures, which Edward explained was something of a necessity this far up north since they were warmer than brick and mortar buildings. It was actually fairly similar to Forks in the way it was built, though unlike Forks, everything was not just of the highway since we had to get off the highway and drive quite a ways just to reach the town. I caught a glimpse of the police station, which was housed right beside city hall in a very large brick and mortal building. It brought back many memories, most not good at all, of Charlie, though his station was housed in an old wooden structure rather that a brick building. I resolved to steer clear of it if at all possible. Edward had told me that the town was built in the gold rush era and still actually had a working gold mine as well as a working coal mine, which was where most of the people in town worked. Though Hope was a fairly small town it had a level-1-trauma center, though a small one, because of the mines so Carlisle would actually be very well received being a trauma surgeon as well as emergency physician. We passed the hospital where Carlisle would be starting at the next day and I thought it was quite pretty. It had a lot of greenery around the fairly modern building, though I could see many architectural designs which were copied from other buildings in the area to help the modern building fit in with the other older ones in town. It was actually a 2-building complex, but the second building was not as visible from the main road. Carlisle would be working in building 1 which was where the emergency room was and his private office was on the second floor; he'd made it a point of making sure we knew where he would be in case of trouble. We continued down the main road out pass the more populated area on our way out of town since the camp was about and hour's drive – for a human – from the town. We drove into the country seeing a few farms, which Edward said were working farms where it would be easier and best to get groceries from since the town only had a fairly small grocery store and a regular sized Wal-Mart with no attached grocery store; he'd been reading up on the town in preparation for coming here while we had been in Denali and had made it a point of researching where it would be best to find groceries for the children and us as well as other things we might need. If and when we needed to go shopping we would have to drive to Denali, Anchorage or Juno, or just settle for online shopping because the wasn't much of anything in town.

We drove out past the farms and a few small estates and a couple of hotels, and I had also noticed there were some in town as well, which I noticed with some surprise. "I know," Edward said. "Hope is actually a resort town during ski season. Particularly for cross-country skiers and tundra skiers. It's one of the activities that our camp used to provide before the owners fell into hard times. There are still ski lifts and stuff on the mountain, which the boys and I thought about checking out to see if they were still usable. We could have some fun skiing even if they don't work though we don't actually own the best skiing mountain. That belongs to the resort about 6 miles ahead of our own. Ski season here is actually just winding down so there's not going to be a lot going on in town. However we do own something very nice as part of the camp."

That made me curious, "What?"

He smiled mischievously, "About half a mile or so away from the main lodge there is another lodge for guests. It was built to be a spa, which accompanies a natural hot spring fed by a waterfall. Carlisle said that there are about 10 which are a part of the spa itself and 1 additional one a ways a way from the spa and all very private. Actually about half of the largest lodges had small private hot springs while the others had Jacuzzis made to look like hot springs. It's the one thing that kept the old owners aloft, along with the hunting, before they finally had to shut the place down because of too many losses. There are some other resorts that have hot springs but nothing like what we have."

"So how many lodges are there?" I asked.

"A part from the main lodge, there's 15 large lodges, 10 of which have hot springs. 10 medium size lodges and 16 cabins ranging from 1 to 3 rooms. Along with the spa, which was not for staying at but to spend time in. And a small ski lodge used for renting rooms to skiers that wanted to be close to the mountain, it's actually about a third of the size of the main lodge, which is huge. And yes I know it's a lot, but we're actually taking down 4 of the medium lodges and 6 of the cabins. Carlisle toured them and they looked in bad shape to him and would be best taken down. We'll still be keeping quite a bit, but a lot of it is for appearances sake, plus most we could convert into other things, like a garage which there is none, maybe something where Rose can really work on cars, or play houses for the children. Also there are buildings that weren't meant for living at but meant for working with the game animals, which we will continue to do so that we can continue to hunt on the resort. There are electric fences surrounding the resort so no animals will be escaping from it and no one will enter it without permission, some might try but there is a good security system in place and it is private property after all. It's a place were we can really have some fun; we have after all a property about ¾ of the size of Yellowstone with plenty of game for us to live on and plenty of area for us to run in with plenty of privacy so we can really cut loose without worry. Carlisle thinks we could continue some of the things that were doing previously, like allowing hunters into the property during hunting season or fishermen into our bay, so long as we limit the area they are allowed in to within a few miles of the houses, but we won't be taking in guests, too much risk since we're keeping the smaller children out of the public eye."

"Do you think it's a good idea?" I asked.

"Actually, yes I do. It would be too strange to have such a large hunting resort for ourselves and maintain it all by ourselves without selling off pieces of it. We are rich, but it would look too odd. And keeping hunters and fishermen out would be too strange since it is a hunting camp after all full of game. When hunting season comes we'll just hunt at the other natural areas including the preserve where hunting is forbidden for humans, which are fairly overpopulated as it is with predators. But we will limit the number of hunters allowed into the preserve for our own sakes and as long as we're careful we could still hunt on our turf."

"What about sending the older kids to school?"

"Carlisle looked at the elementary school and the high school. They're small but not bad at all, good curriculums in the elementary school. I thought that maybe Cam and Cat could start in 2nd grade, while Achilles and Briseis were in 1st grade and Lestat, Akasha and Tarquin went to kinder garden. Truthfully, they could be in at least Junior High, but it works best for appearances sake. Cam and Cat could continue up to 6th grade, possibly the 7th or 8th grade, which will be around the time we'll have to pretend to move from the area. We'll still stay in the hunting camp but go on to the other towns that are in the area. Hope is actually so far off the beaten path that we won't see anyone else from the town in those areas, when people leave here they go to Juno or Anchorage to go to school but most pretty much live here for generations and work on the mines. Kind of like a hillbilly town. Besides, we're not all going to be in the public eye in each town, or even together publicly in each town. We could go off and pretend to be young married couples or other things every time, we'll still live together, but would use different stories in each place."

"What about when they don't look their supposed ages?"

"It's not that much of an issue, kids their ages all grow differently people will just assume they got that from your family, that they will grow a little slower before shooting up in their teens, not that uncommon here in Alaska."

"What about there being so many of us here in Hope? Won't it look strange for Carlisle and Esme to have so many kids even if the babies won't be seen?" I wondered.

"Actually, not so much. Families in Alaska tend to be fairly large. Particularly more well to do families, which we are. And it's not too out of the ordinary for some of the children to be adopted or even kids of other relatives. The story we agreed on was that Alice and I are twins, Carlisle's biological children from a previous relationship and our birth mother signed away her rights to Carlisle because she didn't want children. Esme's the only mother we've ever known. Emmett was adopted after an accident killed his parents when he was 10, and Rose and Jazz will use the usual excuse of being twins and that Esme is their aunt who took them in when they were 8 after her sister and brother in law died in a plane crash. And you and your siblings came to us about a year ago as foster children because of the abuse in your home. Your parents' rights were terminated and you became wards of the court. Carlisle and Esme were named your legal guardians and so you were able to come along with us when we moved, but they were not allowed to adopt you since you were too old and it wouldn't have been fair for them to be able to adopt your younger siblings but not you. It would be similar to Michael Oar's story with his family, which were his legal guardians and family in every sense that matters but they couldn't adopt him since he was too old by the time he came to live with them. It's not gonna be any stranger than in Forks really. Although people might be shocked that you and I are together, but not that much. I mean it's common here for 1st and 2nd cousins to marry and you and I are not related by blood, just live together. Carlisle did inform the school, when he went to enroll us that you won't be joining us this semester. He told the school that as part of the abuse you were pulled out of school in the middle of the 7th grade so we had been home schooling you since you came to live with us to help you catch up with all you missed. We couldn't send you to a normal school because you would have had to be in Junior High and that wouldn't have been fair given your age. He told them that you had already completed all the requirements for Junior High as well as half of freshman year and just needed to catch up to your grade so you'd be starting school next fall with us as a Junior. The school agreed and will be providing the qualification examinations for you at the end of the year so that you can enter Junior year with me and Alice." Edward and Alice would be playing Sophomores and Emmett, Rose and Jazz were Juniors in the high school. I thought it was depressing having to repeat high school over and over, but Edward had reminded me that, though it was hard, the younger they pretended to be, the longer they could stay in one area.

When we finally reached the resort I marveled at the beauty of the property. There were huge pine forests with huge trees surrounding the 3 mile long path which led to the resort area, and from there, I knew the property stretched far and wide, even up into the taiga tundra area. The resort itself was huge with plenty of space in between each lodge. And the main building was enormous, truly a 5-star hotel masquerading as a rustic hunting cabin. When we pulled up to the main house I was flabbergasted and the kids were eager to get out of the car and explore, along with me. I had never seen such a lovely place before. It was, admittedly, a little dilapidated, but that only added character to the building and Edward had told me that most of the homes were in fairly good shape with only some need of small repairs and some that needed to be to be torn down. We had decided to separate and live in the different lodges while Carlisle and Esme stayed at the main house with their twins, though we would definitely spend much time at the main house, only going to our lodges to put the kids to sleep and for private time. After exploring the main house and picking out our own rooms here; we had plenty to choose from since it was actually a hotel with 25 suites divided between 3 floors as well as an indoor pool, game room, dance hall and a huge kitchen and dining room and cavernous living room with the entire back wall of the lodge made out of glass, we all went our separate ways to choose our lodges. Edward and I chose the largest lodge house, which was 3 floors, 10 suites plus a large open plan living room and dining room and a fairly modest modern kitchen with the feel of a Tuscan kitchen. It looked a lot like a miniature version of the main lodge. It was also the closets to the main lodge, and had easy access to the children's play area that had been the part of the resort. Rose and Emmett chose a grand mansion stile lodge which was close to the ski resort and had it's own small children's play area as part of the yard. It was painted white with a black roof and had 5 suites in all plus the large open plan living room and dining room and a modest modern kitchen done in cherry wood. Jasper and Alice chose the large 5 suite boat house style lodge by the lake which was painted in yellow and had a medium sized kitchen and large living room and dining room though they were going to have to knock down a few walls to make it an open plan space. They were the furthest away from the main house but Alice chose it since she loved the view of the lake.

Quickly we settled into our own spaces, each of us doing some work to make it our own. I loved the feel of the house so much that the only thing that Edward and I did was make the kitchen part of the open plan of rest of the 1st floor by removing the dividing wall and painting it in the colors we liked and also doing the children's room. We changed the furniture of the living room since the old one was pretty old and worn, plus it was ugly, I mean I liked the rustic look, but they were very sparse and rather uncomfortable looking. The main living space was composed of a combination living room and office where I would work on things while the children played and it was decorated in tones of red and beige with gold accents. The walls were red with gold accents; the furniture was beige and was a mix of modern with antic, the coffee table and end tables were dark mahogany as well as my desk and the bookcases in the office portion. I had a black leather chair for the desk. The overstuffed couch and overstuffed loveseat and chairs were mixed with a Victorian fainting couch as well as some antic chairs. Upstairs Edward had used one of the rooms as his own office, but I really preferred the view of the living room for mine, plus I could keep an eye on the children more easily that way. The floors were a crazy patchwork of stones like in any hunting lodge except that it was all the different colors of a stone rather than just gray. Esme had helped with decorating and all of it had a feel of a fairytale house, and sometimes I just expected Snow White to walk out of the kitchen with her poisoned apple or for a unicorn to appear and nibble on the rose bushes that were set along the front of the house, rose bushes which would bloom all year round even in the dead of winter so long as they were not buried in snow, Edward had told me. Edward had always seemed to be like Prince Charming to me and so I loved the fairytale feel of the home, especially now that I got to be in the story with him and our magical babies.

Of the other 10 suites, only nine were occupied by the children and us, the tenth room being Edward's office which was done in tones of white with a glass desk and brown leather chair. We'd decided to keep the books at the main house basement under lock and key since we thought it would be much safer and also because the basement of the lodge provided a more ideal climate controlled area to safe guard the books. The Master suite was done in tones of Purple and Blue with the bed linens being deep purple with royal blue embroidery resembling night flowers, royal blue drapes covering the windows, and light blue drapes covering the exit to the private balcony. We had a large 4 poster mahogany antic bed, which was reinforced to be able to take vampires on it. There was a mahogany vanity with a large mirror, another floor length antic mirror as well as an antic chest and an armoire where the TV was kept. There was a deep blue fainting couch, which I used to read in and relax as well as a mahogany coffee table where there was a vase of red and black magic roses, side tables with antic looking lamps along with the appropriate nightstands for my bed each with their own antic lamp. There was a carved mahogany door which led to our private bathroom, filled with all the necessities, though we didn't use or even need most of them and with a feel of a spa complete with jets in the Jacuzzi tub large enough for two all done in tones of dark blue and black granite and another pair of mahogany doors which led to our humongous walk in closet which was full of designer, top of the line clothes which Alice loved to buy for me and Edward, or I conjured using the fashion gift I had copied as a human and learned how to work though I kept that under wraps since Alice would just about have a stroke if she knew. It was fun messing with her when she saw me in clothes she knew she'd never bought but couldn't figure out how I got my hands on them, particularly if they were one of a kind ensembles which I conjured with the sole purpose of annoying Alice and not really because I wore them. I still preferred wearing jeans and T-shirts and other comfortable clothes like sweats, which Alice conceded to so long as they were designer brand. While I don't like shopping I do like clothes as much as the next girl, its just that I don't have much of a fashion sense or see the need to spend exorbitant amount of money on clothes that would be considered out of style in a week, preferring more basic things that never really went out of fashion when you really looked at them and were very comfortable.

Each of the older children had their own rooms, and the eightuplets shared their nursery, which was the second largest suite in the place. Cameron chose to do his room in a jungle theme so we painted murals of jungle scenes full of all kinds of animals, both real like lions and tigers and monkeys and imaginary like the dragons. He also had his own bathroom, smaller than mine and Edward's, just like all of the children, which was done in blue and yellow with gray granite and his own walk in closet, which Alice had filled to over flowing, though, like his mother, he preferred to wear jeans and shirts. His room had a large bed, the original bed in there as a matter of fact, along with an armoire for the TV and his video game consuls as well as a bunch of different toys he loved to play with. Caitlyn's room was done in tones of pastels mixed with their darker counterpart tones, she too had the original bed which we'd painted white to match her room and all the amenities of a bedroom along with her walk-in closets and her own private bathroom, smaller though similar to mine and done in tones of yellow and beige with gray granite. Lestat was a typical boy and so his room had a sports theme to it with his own twin sized bed that looked like a racecar and his own armoire for the TV and videogame consuls and his walk-in closet and his own bathroom done in beige and white granite. Akasha's was decorated to resemble a fairytale forest at night, with different mythological creatures running in it, like unicorns along with different real animals like lions, tigers and bears all running under the light of a full moon, and if you turned out the lights in the room you could see the stars in the ceiling glowing. Her bed was castle shaped twin bed with a white armoire where her TV and video game consul was as well as having her walk in closet and private bathroom with all the necessities, which was identical to all the others, except hers was done in pink with white granite. Tarquin's room was car themed and he, like Lestat, had a racecar bed along with his own blue armoire and walk in closet and bathroom with was painted light blue and had gay marble. Briseis's room was Disney princesses themed with the Disney castle as her bed and her own armoire walk in closet and bathroom done in white with a pink marble. Achilles had wanted a mythology themed room so we had done murals of Mount Olympus and the temples of the gods and the city of Troy along with adding different mythological animals and stuff. He had his own armoire walk in closet and bathroom, which was done in light yellow with white marble.

The last filled room was the nursery where our eightuplets slept. It was done in tones resembling the morning sky at sunrise, with all manner of birds flying in he sky along with a Pegasus and a few angels, 7 to be precise, one for each of the Cullens which I painted myself in painstaking detail, myself as an angel sitting on a cloud watching the tiny cribs because that's what the children wanted and 15 little cherubs either flying in the sky or playing in the clouds, one for each of my children. There were 8 little cribs painted in white and gold with white, pink and blue lace sheer drapes draped around them and obscuring the beds, and all the necessities found in nurseries like two changing tables, two white rocking chair, and endless amounts of toys and stuffed animals, since my family loved to spoil the children; all of them including Cameron, Caitlyn, Briseis, Achilles, Lestat, Akasha, and Tarquin which had more toys than they knew what to do with. They had a very large walk in closet, which they all shared and was filled to bursting with baby clothes all designer brand new and pretty likely never to be worn since I couldn't possibly put them in so many outfits even if it took them 10,000 years to grow up. They too had their own private bath, which had all the necessities and a very large bathtub, almost as big as ours, where we would bather all the babies at the same time. It was done in tones of yellow with white granite and had many bath toys all around it. All in all it was a home fit for a fairytale, for a dream. And I loved being able to finally dream.

 **Chapter 12: Whirlwind of Time**

 **Bella POV**

It has now been 6 months since we moved to the resort and so much had happed. I spent my days at the main house with Esme and all of the younger children, studying and caring for the children with Esme. When Edward came home he would help me with my lessons as always and we would help the older kids with their homework before dinner then going back to our place at bedtime to put the children to bed while Cameron and Caitlyn played video games. Edward and I would then spend the nights hunting or just relaxing in our bedroom and cuddling. As time passed I felt less afraid of physical intimacy and so it made it easier on our relationship. One night, Edward took me out for a midnight stroll and showed me a tiny heart-shaped meadow at the bank of a small pool fed by a waterfall. It was full of all kinds of wildflowers and I absolutely loved it. It was so romantic. There he had placed a small picnic filled with all kinds of sugary goodies set on a picnic blanket. It was wonderful and I loved the romantic feel of the place. I felt so safe there and so loved that I was finally able to say the words I had so longed to say to Edward. He had told me some time earlier that he loved me, but I had not been able to say it back; he knew I felt it back, it was just that I still had some hurt left to cure before the words would flow. After he had fed me a chocolate covered strawberry I kissed his lips and finally told him I loved him. His smile could light up the world in that moment and it made my dead heart flutter and dazzled me speechless. After that, we were both loath to spend much time apart, though we did hang out with the rest of the family. Emmett had taught me how to wrestle though he was crushed that I could beat him. Officially I was stronger than Emmett and my newborn strength had still not show any signs of beginning to end.

The family and I would hunt together and just hang out together playing various games and doing other things that families did. Thanksgiving was actually the first time any of us had celebrated it with the traditional feast, even me since it was never a thankful day for me even before Phil came along, and we all took turns saying what we were thankful for. I was thankful for my children and for having found Edward and probably most of all for the new family I had, Edward had been thankful for finding me and for our babies and our family as well. Pretty much everyone was thankful for the same thing as us. Christmas was definitely a circus. Alice had decorated a huge 10-foot tree in the main lodge as the family tree; though each of us had our own family tree in our own houses thanks to her, where we had put the presents the couple bought for each other and parents for kids and there were a mountain of present from Santa for everyone. It was a Christmas wonderland and the kids, even the older supposedly adult though teenage looking ones and the ones that were supposed to be our parents, went ballistic giving and receiving presents and just plain having fun and enjoying the holiday season. There was an equally large mountain of wrapping paper, empty boxes, and ribbons needing to be cleaned up afterwards and poor Carlisle got stuck with that one when he had tried to volunteer the boys to do it because Esme said that it was what he did every year and every year he got stuck with it while we went hunting. I did score some brownie points with him since my pile of discarded items was neatly cleaned up while everyone else had made a mess on purpose, family tradition, I was later told when Emmett threw my pile all over the room. After Christmas dinner we had decided to dance in the dance hall and Edward and I shared a very hot kiss under the mistletoe when the kids weren't looking.

When we retired for the evening I decide to give Edward my present then. I was finally ready, and I wanted to be with him. For some time our evening cuddles had been becoming more and more heated and with fewer clothes as I was becoming more accustomed to intimacy and slowly healing my wounds from all my old experiences. Once the kids were safely tucked into bed for the night and Cameron and Caitlyn were playing their new games, I took Edward's hand and led him out the door and took off at a run for the meadow. He was curious, I knew since we hadn't been out there for a while since winter hit, but followed me never the less. I had disappeared for an hour earlier in the day when Alice had him distracted so I could set everything up at the meadow. When we got there, Edward finally had an idea of what I had been up to. The meadow was beautiful. The pond and waterfall had frozen over, though the water still flowed beneath the sheet of ice sending music into the air. There were some winter flowers and tundra grasses growing in the area, which were visible since I had cleared the snow off of the ground. I had set up a small tent of white and silver drapery and built a small fire in front to keep animals out. Inside the tent there was an air mattress we had often brought with us to the meadow when we came before which I had covered in white linens and warm blankets I had made from the furs of some of the animals I had hunted. There were rose petals on the bed and a white box with a gold ribbon tying it shut. Edward looked very curious as he looked back at me with the box in hand. "Merry Christmas my love," I told him as I gesture for him to open the box. It was empty. Confused Edward looked back at me. I saw his eyes widen as he saw what I was wearing. Gone was the pink dress I had been wearing earlier, while he was distracted opening the box, I had used my vampire speed to run into the tree line, out of his sight and take the dress off to reveal the pretty white and silver sheer nightie I was wearing underneath. It was taffeta cloth which hid very little. I wore white stockings and white heels to complement it. Rose had helped me pick it out and said it was similar to what a bride would have worn on her wedding night in the early 20th century, though much more revealing. I had wanted it specifically as a gift for Edward on our first time.

I ignored the shock on Edward's face as I slowly walked towards him. He wrapped his arms tightly around me when I was close enough and pulled me tightly to his chest. I could feel the hard member in his pants and knew how much he wanted this, wanted me, and I was finally ready to be with him. I kissed him passionately as I gently pushed him down on the bed. He would let me lead, he always did, making sure that I felt comfortable with everything I did. When we were laying down I pulled away from his ardent kisses and closed the flap of the tent to keep the wind out, not because of the cold or even modesty since we were in the middle of the woods but more as a feeling of comfort for me since I was not comfortable with showing myself in a very exposed location. I could tell that Edward knew my intentions and I could see the lust in his eyes but also the concern as I returned to him on the bed. "Bella, love, are you sure?" he asked.

I nodded as I unbuttoned his shirt, "Yes. I love you," I told him and kissed him.

"I love you," Edward said as he ran his hands down my sides. We kissed ardently as we slowly shed our clothes. We took it slowly; there was no hurry after all; as we touched each other more intimately than we ever had before. Edward knew I did not like being pinned down so he left me on top and in control making sure I was comfortable with what we were doing. Gently, when I was ready and my body felt as if it were burning, I slowly lowered myself on Edward's weeping and hard organ. I had seen it before as over time we had touched each other intimately but I had never felt it inside me. For a very brief moment, I had a small flashback of Phil and Charlie, but it was quickly burned away in the fire that spread inside my belly at our touch. I was trilled that no longer would this act hold such fear and pain for me, as I had always known it was not meant to be that way. Slowly Edward and I rocked together, increasing the friction and speed as our bodies took over in need… I wasn't prepared for the pleasurable ache in my pussy, the sheer _**need**_ I had for Edward to intensify. Ever so gently, as though he sensed how much I wanted him, Edward began to meet my movements, tentatively arching his own hips in time to meet my thrusts. Our bodies moved smoothly together, slick and wet, as we loved each other. "I think—I think I can touch you," Edward said between his clenched teeth. "Jesus— _ **fuck**_ —I _**have**_ to, or I'm going to loose my mind." I slowed my movements and he released his hands from around the grass he'd grabbed in and effort to let me take the lead, leaving it bent where his hands had been wrapped around it, but otherwise untouched.

"Yessss," I hissed when Edward laid his hands on my hips, gently guiding my movements on him. He left me in control but went along with my motions, feeling me slide up and down his thick shaft, swirling my hips onto his body to get the friction I craved.

"Look down, Bella," he murmured. "Watch us move together. It's amazing." Edward had tilted his head up and was looking between our bodies. I let mine hang; looking down where we were joined and realized he was right. I had never seen anything more erotic: The way our bodies separated and came together smoothly; how mine stretched and squeezed him, accommodating his size; how his hit every single spot that made me want to scream. We were made for each other.

"Oh, _**God**_ , _**Edward**_ ," I grunted, watching him slip in and out, coated in my wetness and his precum. I never knew I could be so visually stimulated… Edward groaned again, using his hands to push me down on him just a little harder and giving my hips a little push, circling me on him. The sensation was mind-blowing; I felt so full, and with each circle, my clit rubbed along his body _**just right**_ _…_ " _ **Oh**_ **!** " I squealed, bucking my hips onto him with abandon when his fingers tightened on my hips, chasing the climax I knew would come. My hands had found their way to his shoulders and I gripped him tightly, using all the leverage I could to thrust back on him. Over and over he hit my sweet spots, and suddenly it became too much. My orgasm crashed over me like a tsunami and I was vaguely aware of Edward taking over my movements, bouncing me on his cock because my legs had given out and were trembling too badly. In the midst of the pleasure I felt Edward stiffen even more inside me, and a sudden rush of cool wetness quickly followed.

"Bella!" he called out, releasing my hips, and I collapsed on top of his cool chest, writhing just a little to finish milking the pleasure out of him. "That was amazing, love," he said, pulling me up just a little to kiss my hair. I felt tears stream down my eyes. It alarmed him, thinking he'd hurt me, "Love are you alright?" he asked beginning to panic, thinking that perhaps I had not really been ready for this after all.

I smiled at him happily through my tears, "Yes."

"Then why are you crying?" he asked still confused but beginning to relax at my smile.

"They're tears of joy, Edward. I'm so happy. I love you so much," I chocked.

He smiled, "I love you too," he said and kissed me before cuddling me back into his chest. "Are you sure you're alright though?"

"I am. I admit that I did have a small flashback to them, but it all burned away when I felt your love for me." I was quiet for a moment, trying to think back to those awful memories and suddenly finding them to be dark and poorly lit as if they'd happened a lifetime ago, a different lifetime of a different person and it trilled me to no end. "You made them go away just like you always have," I said as I cuddled into his chest. Edward's arms tightened around me and he kissed my head.

"I'll keep them away, forever. And no one will ever hurt you again," Edward said. I kissed him passionately again and we continued to make use of our small getaway, showing our love for one another. I was even able to lay underneath Edward, because I knew he'd never hurt me and would protect me forever.

New Years came with cheer for everyone. Alice had seen that the trials were set to begin after that, but I chose not to watch them on the TV. I didn't want to relive any part of that. It was over and in the past and it belonged in the life of a scared little girl whom no one had loved and not in the life of the strong young woman I had become with the love and support of my new family and my love. From what I was told by the family, the trials lasted about a month each, all of them starting three weeks apart from the others and they went just as Alice had seen. Charlie cracked on the stand and confessed how he hurt me and denied that he murdered me. He was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection. Phil was tried and convicted and sentenced to capital punishment and the judge threw out the immunity bargains at the sentencing and sent his clients to prison. Renée was tried on charges of reckless endangerment and child neglect and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. I felt sorry for her, she was just too child like and in need of love to see things clearly and be what she had to be. But that chapter of my life was over now, and I would not look back at it. With the trials past my last tie to that life was cut and I never looked back, not once. I held all of the good memories in my heart, mostly memories of my Gran and kept her treasures safe in my home, but I never looked back and looked forward to continuing with my new life and hoped my Gran was proud of me as my new family was. Sometimes I felt as if she were beside me, just as she said in her letter and whenever I did, I merely smiled and continued on.

 **Chapter 13: Tracker**

 **Bella POV**

Fall had come and I was going back to school for the start of Junior year. It had taken quite a while for me to finally catch up with everything I'd forgotten with the change. Even though Edward had been right in that it wouldn't be so much as studying as just reading through everything once, I still basically had to cover 6 years worth of information in a few months. But I had done it and passed the qualification examinations with perfect scores in May and was all set to finally begin school. I had not even gotten to really begin Junior year before all hell broke loose but this time I would have the support of a real family and their protection. I would be joining Edward and Alice in Junior year while Emmett, Rose and Jasper were Seniors. The summer was quiet here in Alaska. We spent the majority of the time enjoying the freedom of our new resort home and all the water sports we could. Emmett laughed his ass off when he found out I had never learned to swim as the few times I had tried it went terribly wrong and ended in a trip to the emergency room. AH the joys of being indestructible! Now the only visits I had to do to the emergency room was to bring Carlisle something to eat that Esme made for him and/or the staff at the hospital. The Denalis came by and spent the summer here with us at the resort, which I didn't particularly enjoy as Tanya was at it again. However, I hadn't just spent the past few months studying and caring for my children. I had also been working intensely with Carlisle and the boys on my gifts. I had mastered all my copied powers and learned to extend my shields along with figuring out that the back lash and resistance I always felt when I did that was all do to me and my subconscious unwillingness to let that part of me go. It took a bit but the thought of the Volturi harming my family and especially Edward and the babies had me so mad that I literally felt an explosion within me and released all that pent up rage and energy into the shields and no longer did I feel any back lash because the need to protect those I cared about was by far more powerful. I learned that my mental shield was actually the primary shield and that I only activated the physical shield after the mental protection was extended and I chose to block physical attacks. This took some practice but eventually I figured out that I merely needed to think about making the shield hard like a brick wall and it became a solid, yet invisible wall of protection. It had been a riot watching Emmett smash himself into the shield when he tried to attack Edward. Carlisle had videotaped the occasion, not that anyone would forget it, but it was still so much fun to watch, he looked so much like one of those wacky cartoons and Briseis started calling him uncle Daffy, which kinda stuck and we all started calling him Daffy too, even Rosalie.

The mimic gift took quite a bit of concentration to find but I eventually learned that there was no real trigger for the gift, it was just something I did naturally, as a reflex, but needed to learn to control it so that I wouldn't be copying gifts anytime I came across one. We found that part of the gift was that I could read the gifts of vampires and possibly humans and then copy them and make them my own. Meditation actually worked best to help me understand and hone in on this gift and control it. With a little practice, I was able to learn to discern what gifts were around me and also decide if I wanted to copy them or not. It was through this that I learned that I had not copied Alice's gift and we all decided as a family that it would be best if I did go ahead and copy her gift since there was a possibility of a threat from the Volturi in the future and two lookouts were better than one. It was through this exercise that I finally figured out how to use the soul reading gift as well. Edward thought that I was merely reading all corners of a mind, but couldn't explain how I was able to find out just who made Alice since she had no memory of him; he just didn't believe that we had souls but had to change his tune when I point blank asked him if our children had souls, to which he answered an absolute yes, and then I asked him how it was possible for two soulless creatures like us since I was just like him, to make such beautiful little souls together. He had no answer; I may never convince him of this but we did have souls and they were beautiful, especially his. Through this exercise, I was able to discover Alice's past. With a kiss on my sister's forehead I saw and showed her the face of her maker, a blond vampire, very similar in nature to Carlisle, who had worked at the mental asylum where her parents had dumped her locking her away because of her visions of he future; ironic really how we all placed such value on her gift and her human family had condemned her for it. The vampire had grown fond of Alice and had wanted to help her and free her. Before he could make up his mind as to whether or not he should change her, a nomad made his mind up for him. That man was also blond and fairly plain looking for a vampire. He was a tracker and lived for the hunt; he decided of making a sport of killing Alice since she was the vampire's little human pet as he referred to her. Alice's protector had been desperate to protect her and had stolen her from the asylum and bitten her, saving her life as the tracker lost interest in her now that she was to be a vampire. Through the fires of the change, Alice had watched her maker be ripped apart by the tracker in revenge for wining his game. Then he smashed Alice's still fragile head against a stone, the blow being the reason Alice had not been able to remember anything, to protect himself from the newborn she was to be since he knew she would come after him in revenge. He could have killed her but decided to let her run amok and it was only her gift that kept her from doing just that.

I was also able to unearth from her soul her human name, Mary Alice Brandon and that she was from Mississippi, though the asylum she'd been sent to was in the Catskills Mountains. I could not find the name of her maker though as it seemed Alice had never known it. I had caught her as she collapsed in sobs and then tucked her into Jasper's arms as I told the family the story. Alice decided to use the information I had given her to track down her human family; now that she remembered them, she needed closure from that life just as we all had. She managed to find her admissions papers for the asylum and, more disturbingly, her obituary. Her parents had declared her dead and even bought her a tombstone when they had dumped her in that hellhole at 15 years old. She's had a sister Cynthia, whose daughter was still alive in Biloxi, Mississippi and she had managed to unearth an old bank account under her original name where a gold watch and a cameo broach had been sequestered all these years. It was unknown as to where they came from. The only other thing we had managed to find was he original birth certificate which listed her as having been born on August 21st, 1901 so she was exactly one month and a day younger than Edward and 1 ½ months older than me. I knew it was a relief to her to finally have the answers to the questions she had always had about where she came from.

My copied gifts were easier to learn to use, and I think that Carlisle may have been correct in his assumption that I also copied the knowledge of the vampires that had possessed them since once I discovered where they were, I just used them. Anger was the easiest trigger for them, but I found that if they were passive gifts, like the fashion gift or non-reactive like seeing the future or reading the past, they had no real trigger to discover them I just had to find them within myself. Currently I had all of my children's powers as well as powers we had no idea where they came from just as Zelya had said. From the children I had copied the ability to read minds (Edward, E.J. and Lilly's gift), Thought projection (Renesmee), Telepathy (Elizabeth & Andy), Telekinesis (CJ and Melody), the ability to blow things up (Aurora), Teleportation (Cameron), Invisibility shield (Caitlyn), Weather Manipulation (Lestat), Flight (Akasha and Tarquin), Mind Control (Achilles), Past reading and Fashion Power (Briseis). Then there was Alice and Jasper's gifts, which I had copied as well as Kate's electric shock gift and the gifts I had no idea where they came from, Elemental Manipulation and the Siren song. Carlisle had asked me if I had ever traveled to Egypt since there was a vampire there, Benjamin of the Egyptian coven, who had the gift to manipulate the 4 elements, but I told him that the furthest I had traveled before joining the family was to Albuquerque, New Mexico, so Carlisle thought that maybe Benjamin had traveled to the US and I just happened to pass by him somewhere and copied his gift. No one could figure out where the siren song came from but I figured that maybe it had been my aunt's gift since I remember being told as a child what a gifted singer she was, but I would never really know. Still, it was great having the gifts I had because I knew that with them, no one could harm me again, but most of all I could keep my family from harm.

When the Denalis visited I already had control over all the gifts, which had astonished my father, who couldn't really shake the proud papa smile from his face as he saw me working on them and I was pleased that I could please my new father. It was astonishing because I as only a newborn, but I wasn't that surprised, I had always been stubborn and when I set my mind to something I just did it no matter how hard it was. It wasn't something Tanya had been expecting when she tried to corner Edward in the library at the main lodge while he was looking for a storybook for the children. Her plan was to try to get him in a compromising position with her, particularly as she was barely clothed, and let me catch them, and she thought that since Alice was away hunting and I was on my way up from the our house with the kids and too far to read her mind I wouldn't find out. Unfortunately for her, she hadn't counted on the fact that there were now two future seers in the house and I had a vision of her plans as soon as she decided. I left the children with Esme and ran straight to the library just as she was trying to attach herself to Edward and merely grabbed her by the hair and dragged her outside, passing the whole family, who had just returned from hunting on Alice's urging, on the way and further humiliating her. Everyone followed to watch. I smirked as I let go after we were in the middle of the yard, "Surprise! Apparently someone forgot that I'm no ordinary newborn. FYI, dumb blond. I'm a mimic, I can copy powers and so I can also see the future. You're never gonna get anything past me." Tanya had gotten up and tried to attack me, but between my physical shield and the training I had received from my family on fighting, she stood no chance and I quickly knocked her to the ground after watching her smash herself against my physical shield about 10 feet away from my body. I stepped on her stomach to keep her in place as I finished. "I'll try to use small words, tramp, to see if that helps that one measly neuron you have understand. **EDWARD. IS. NOT. INTERESTED.** He's taken now, and even when he wasn't you did **NOTHING** for him. All you do is make him wish he could throw up. His mama raised him to be polite and a gentleman and so he's not able to tell you how much you disgust him, but I have no problem telling you. You're a disgusting tramp, not worth a second look. You might be pretty to look at, but that's all. Definitely not the kind of girl, boys bring home to mama. Get it witch. He's got all he needs right at home and is in no way attracted to you. So I suggest that you keep your hands to yourself and leave him alone, before you find yourself on a pyre or with a fireball on your ass and this time it won't be non-lethal."

I let her go after that and calmly walked away but I was fairly angry, which, considering my gifts, wasn't a good thing and I accidentally made a huge thunder storm appear where before we'd had clear blue skies and the sun was shining for once, though I was too angry to notice. Of course everyone had been watching the display and no one could hold in their laughter, not even her brother and sisters, it was after incredibly hilarious to watch a newborn defeat a 1,000-year-old vampire with far more fighting experience so easily. They all knew I didn't really mean to hurt her and that my threat didn't really hold any water, but she really needed to get a clue. It was clear that Tanya and I would never get along but I did hope that she would get over her obsession with Edward; really, all she was doing was hurting and humiliating herself and needed to be made to see that. I could tell that she had a lot to offer a partner, but forcing herself on someone, particularly someone who wasn't interested in her and saw her only as a friend, wasn't doing her any good. I held my head high as I walked away from her and back inside before it started to rain. It was still such a strange thing for me to walk with my head high instead of always hanging low and looking at the ground. I admit that in part it had been a necessity in my human life since I was such a klutz but most of it was because I never had much confidence or self-esteem. I didn't really grow up in an environment that fostered that and then Charlie and Phil had hurt me causing what little confidence and self-esteem I did have to disappear. In a way I had thought that maybe I deserved what Phil and Charlie had done to me. Deep down I'd always known that that wasn't true, but I couldn't help the victim syndrome, as Carlisle had called it, from taking over. It had taken a long time, but through the love and encouragement of my new family I was finally able to build myself up and be able to walk with my head held high, safe in the knowledge that I was worth something and that I had a family and a lover who truly loved me for who I was. It was something I had been in sore need of and so happy to have finally found. Edward wrapped his arms around me, still chuckling away but rubbed my arms in an effort to calm me. It was then that I notice that my weather gift had gotten away from me in my anger. "Oops, I guess I got a little too mad. Should I dispel the storm or just let it go and wind down on it's own?" I asked not sure what I should do."

"No way, let's play ball!" Emmett yelled.

I was confused, "Play ball?"

Edward chuckled as he held me tighter, "Yeah, whenever there's a storm outside we go out to play baseball. You haven't seen it before because none of the storms we've had since we've been here were big enough for us to play."

"You need a big storm to play baseball?" I asked, even more confused.

Carlisle ruffled my hair, an action that we'd become familiar with over the last few months as a sort of father-daughter thing and I loved it. "We need the thunder to mask the sound of us playing since the crack of the bats or other sounds of the game sound a lot like thunder. If people hear them they'll just think that it's thunder. And I don't think that we have to worry much about the sudden storm, Alaskan weather is fairly unpredictable and can easily go from a sunny afternoon to a raging storm at a moment's notice, particularly in summer. Now let's go play." With that the whole house was in a flurry of activity looking for the bats and balls as well as caps and baseball clothes. Alice dragged me to her room here in the main lodge and quickly had me change into a baseball jersey and jeans and sneakers before dragging me back downstairs. The kids were also ready and we all headed out after Alice and I double-checked the future to make sure that the game field we were going to would be rain free. We were taking a tent with us for the children regardless, but it would be raining in town so nothing seemed amiss. The Denalis opted to stay behind and pack since they were headed home in the morning; they'd been here throughout the summer break, but now were headed home and we'd be starting school in a week, and I have to admit it was the first time I was actually looking forward to starting school.

The baseball field was a 5 square mile clearing that Edward and Jasper had found on a hunting trip where we went to play other stuff like football, or rather the boys played football while we girls watched. We'd been out there a few times and it was always fun. We'd decided to build a play house there using the lumber from the cabins we'd taken down so that the children could have a place to be in if it rained while we were out there, but we hadn't been able to finish it yet since we still needed to find a way to get electricity so far out there because the field was about 15 miles from the resort and over the mountain, which was why we had acquired a large tent to go out there so we would take the kids while we play. We hadn't taken it out there yet but it would be staying up at the field for other games. Once we got to the field, Carlisle, Edward and Jasper quickly set up the tent for the little ones while Emmett goofed around with my older boys and girls, teaching them to use the bat wile Alice threw slow pitches for them. I too got a turn to learn as soon as Edward was done with the tent, since I'd never played baseball before. It was surprisingly easy with my new vampire reflexes and I quickly took to the game. We played a short slow game where the bigger children joined in to play and, of course, we let them win. Then the adults played a game and since we now had even numbers, we'd decided to make it boys versus girls so it was me, Alice, Rose and Esme against Carlisle, Emmett, Edward, and Jasper. Cameron and Caitlyn were joining in as well as our umpires while the other children watched and cheered from the tent and Esme warned Emmett to watch his language. Alice told me that Emmett was a bit of a potty mouth, to put it lightly, when they played. It was so much fun playing baseball, vampire style. The rules were the same as the standard game, except that there was no walking on pitches, if you didn't hit the ball it was a strike and also that there was about a mile of distance between each base, mostly do to the fact that we couldn't exactly stay within the confines of the human game with our increased strength and speed. I could definitely see why we needed the thunder to mask the sounds of our game because as soon as the children were out of harms way, we all cut loose and the cracks of the bats sounded like thunder and collisions between us when we went for balls were like rockslides. It was a good thing we were indestructible otherwise we would all have been in the emergency room by now.

We were about half way through the second inning and Jasper was up to bat with Alice pitching and me catching for our team when Alice suddenly froze with a blank look on her face just as Jasper hit the ball and sent it flying, a second later I was hit by the same vision. Three vampires, unknown to us had been in the area and heard the game. They were on their way out of the area when they suddenly decided to change course and see if they could join in the game, curious as to who could be playing out here. "In coming," Alice and I said at the same time. "They were leaving the area, then they heard us and want to play."

"How many?" Jasper asked.

"Three, two males and a female," I answered.

"Do we have time to get the kids out of here?" Esme asked as she and Rose flitted over to the tent, ready to grab the kids and run.

"No," Edward and I said at the same time. "They're too close, they just entered my range and are about 5 minutes away now," Edward finished.

"And I can see that if we run now they might get curious and decide to track their scent, and the last thing we want is for them to start hunting. All we can do is hide them in the tent and guard it," I finished as I checked the future. Suddenly I was hit with another vision, I could see their faces. "Oh my god," was all I could say.

"What? What is it Bella?" Edward asked rubbing my frozen arm in an effort to encourage me to thaw out.

"I know them, one better than the others," I said.

"What?" everyone asked.

"It's the tracker, the one that went after Alice, and killed her maker. But that's not the only place I know them from. I've seen Lestat, Akasha, and Tarquin's memories. I've seen the faces of the three vampires that went after them and their birth mother. It's the same ones. I can't believe I didn't recognize the blond male sooner when I saw him with Alice," I said. I looked at Edward, "I can see that if he catches whiff of the children, he's going to want them. It'll be his most exciting game ever, getting through us to kill the cubs."

"Call the Denalis! We could use the back up," Rose said as she held her daughter tightly to her.

"Call them yes," Alice said with a blank look on her face. "But they won't be here in enough time, though we can definitely use the backup in the fight. They will catch whiff of them because the wind will shift, and before Bella can say it, no she can't control it to keep it from happening. When the wind shifts to bring the scent to them the tent will be behind us. If she takes control of the wind to keep it from happening, they'll get curious about the tent and we risk them getting past us to see what's inside. If this happens, at least one of the children will die before we can do anything. It means a fight either way, and about half of us will have to guard the tent to keep anyone from sneaking past us to it. All of the children must be inside it, even Cameron and Caitlyn, they should not be visible. Carlisle place the call now, before they get too much closer, make it short they're almost in hearing range." Carlisle quickly pulled out his phone and called Eleazar letting him know what was happening. Tanya, Irina and he would be coming while Kate and Carmen stayed with their children and he made sure to warn Kate to be on guard in case someone got past us and got to the lodge considering what they were after. I saw a brief vision of that possibility and sent the warning out though it didn't seem too likely to me. Our friends were on the way before the call was disconnected. Esme and I rushed the children inside the tent, hiding them beneath some blankets to hopefully hide the scent a little though we knew it wouldn't work even as we were doing it. Once we went outside, Rose closed the exit flap and quickly zipped it shut, leaving Cameron and Caitlyn to stand guard just behind it, they were old vampires though they looked like children and the Volturi had trained them to fight, if by some miracle anyone got past us they could at least hold them off until we could get to them. The thought of that fight or anyone getting past us was enough to enrage me and it did not pay to do so as my biggest trigger for my most deadly powers was actually anger. With it, I was at the ready to unleash my gifts to either defend or attack but I had seen a vision that it would be best to wait to do so and not draw any more attention to the tent. Rose, Esme, Alice and I stood behind our mates, closest to the tent but still leaving some room between us and it to try not to draw attention to it. Carlisle stood at the spear head of our little formation as the leader of our family with Emmett and Jasper at his flanks, Edward was slightly a ways away from them in between them and us girls to help guard the tent but still right behind the other males.

We were all tense, and we knew there would be a fight, though I knew that Carlisle would try to get them to leave peacefully; it was just his nature though I also knew that if it came to a fight, my father would be a fierce opponent for anyone, it was after all his wife, children and grandchildren in danger, and he was the oldest and most experience fighter we had here and also trained by the Volturi. As one we all turned to the edge of the forest directly in front of us. There was a faint rustle of the leaves in the trees before the three vampires emerged from the shadows. It was like having your nightmares walk up to you to say hi; after all any parent's nightmare was that someone would harm their children. I so wanted to burn them where they stood with my gift over the elements, but the vision of it not working stopped me. As soon as they broke through the tree line, both the blond male and the female moved back behind the dark skinned male, letting him take point and displaying who the leader was, as they approached our group. It was like a pride of lions coming into contact with a much larger group of their own kind. From their minds I gathered that their names were James, Victoria and Laurent. Laurent was dark olive tones skinned beneath the vampire pallor, which hinted that his human skin tone had been much darker. He was of a medium build, hard-muscled, of course, but nothing next to Emmett's brawn. He smiled an easy smile, exposing a flash of gleaming white teeth. He had long ebony hair in dreadlocks and was about as tall as Edward, perhaps a little taller. His mind told me that he was so far only curious. I also gathered that the little display of leadership was only a ruse, James was the true leader of the coven but they did not reveal this until it was time for a fight. Victoria was by far the most striking of the three. She was wilder, her eyes shifting restlessly between the men facing her, and the loose grouping around me, her chaotic hair quivering in the slight breeze. Her posture was distinctly feline. She seemed to be a lovely woman with her red hair that looked like living flames, and her kitten like face that seemed to radiate innocence though I was not fooled by the display and knew her to be dangerous. I also took the opportunity to assess her and saw that she had a very useful gift, a talent with evasion which I decided to copy since it would allow us to evade anyone that came after us; useful if they got away from us and came after the children or if the Volturi decided to show their papery faces. She was James's mate and felt sure in the knowledge that he could never be defeated.

Then I assessed the clear threat. James, the light brown haired male, was plain looking for a vampire with regular features completely nondescript. His eyes, though completely still, somehow seemed the most vigilant. He was about as tall as Jasper and about the same build, though a little thinner. He truly was a tracker; it was his gift and was similar to the Volturi's tracker, Demetri. It was a useful gift and so I copied it. He lived for the hunt, it was his purpose in life and he loved nothing more than getting a challenge out of life. He didn't really care about his mate; she was just a convenience to him because of her talent to get them out of sticky situations. He was a strong fighter, though and very cunning; he had to be since he loved to play deadly games. It was clear that he would not be reasoned with and that he would go after the children just for the trill of it. Alice had made a good call in saying that none of them should be visible; had one of them been visible it would have meant a fight immediately particularly if he got a look at either of the three kids he'd been after, he was still searching for them after all as that ' **game'** was not complete yet. As they neared, I could see their bare feet and the ragged clothing of nomads. They were also encrusted in dirt and it was a great contrast to our family's refinement, even after an afternoon of playing games. Then I caught sight of the deep burgundy of their eyes. It was clear that they were traditional vampires, and that they had recently hunted, possibly in our area and that would explain the recent trend of murders in nearby towns, which were causing a mess for us, the resident coven. Laurent held up the baseball we hadn't gone after in the wake of their arrival. "I believe this belongs to you," he said as he tossed the ball back to Carlisle who easily caught it and smiled politely, though I could see how tense he was, even if he hid it well. Laurent's casual toss was blindingly fast just like any other vampire, but it was clear he wasn't as strong as some of us. I could also see in his mind that he was no real fighter, though he was over 300 years old. He'd joined up with Victoria and James because they were deadly. He wouldn't be much of a threat when this turned into a fight, only James and Victoria.

"Thank you," Carlisle said inclining his head slightly.

"We thought we heard a game. I'm Laurent, and this is Victoria, and James," he said, introducing himself and his companions.

"I'm Carlisle, this is my family," Carlisle said looking from side to side at our family and pointedly not looking at the tent in the hope of keeping their attention from it. A wasted effort since James had already taken notice of it when they came in the clearing and was curious about it, though Victoria couldn't care less, she was just following James and didn't particularly care about what they were doing. She was curious about us too though, and envious of our refined appearance and thinking how nice it would be to be looking that comfortable. Laurent's thoughts went along the same lines as hers but he wondered how we were able to manage it. And all of them were wondering at our strange golden eyes and my odd amber eyes. James guessed that I must be a newborn and on my way to attain the golden eyes, but wondered how they came about and thought we were weak. Little did he know how wrong he was about the weak thing. It reminded me that I would have to wear gold colored contacts to school until my eyes finished changing colors which should be in about another month at most, according to Carlisle, as the change usually took about 6 months on a steady diet of animal blood for a newborn since I still had so much of my own human blood in me; it would have been about 9 months or so normally but I had lost far too much blood the night I died and so had a smaller reserve than normal though it didn't affect my strength in the slightest.

"Hello," Laurent said.

"I'm afraid your hunting activities have…caused something of a mess for us," Carlisle mentioned, stating clearly that this was our territory and that they were trespassing without actually saying it and remaining polite, for now. He too had come to the conclusion, as I had, that they were responsible for the recent string of killings, which put us in jeopardy since we were the resident clan.

Laurent seemed surprised this fact. "Our apologies. We didn't realize the territory had been claimed."

"Yes, well, we maintain a permanent residence nearby," Carlisle said.

"Really?" He looked over at James who was busy glaring into Edward's eyes as he glared back at him. Clearly, Edward had ascertained that James was the real threat to our children and as a father he was angry and ready for a fight, like a lion defending his pride and progeny. I could see in James's mind that this was a trigger for him, James wondered what Edward was defending and why he viewed him as a threat as it was clear it was something beyond our family present here and he was curious. I knew Edward could read the same thing I did in his mind and could see he was trying to tone himself down, but it was no use, his instinct to protect his cubs had been triggered and there was no fighting that just like for me. They were surprised though. Wondering how it was possible for us to live in one area, particularly since they didn't think there was enough food for us here with there being so many of us together. "Well, we won't be a problem anymore. We were just passing through.

"The humans were tracking us, but we led them east. You should be safe," Victoria finished for him. She hoped we might let them stay with us and clean up, as she was more than tired of being like she was. Not a bloody chance, considering how much of a threat they were.

"Excellent," Carlisle said, nodding yet I could tell he was keeping an eye on James just like we all were.

"So…could you use three more players?" Laurent asked wanting to join the game. Carlisle debated for a bit and Laurent tried to be persuasive as they hadn't had any company in so long and they were curious about us. "Oh, come on. Just one game."

"We would be interested in a game," Carlisle began. "Unfortunately, we were just finishing up and getting ready to head back to the house. Perhaps next time if you're still in the area," Carlisle finished hoping they would take the hint and leave.

"Too bad. We're curious though, how is it that you're able to live in one area as you do? There does not seem to be enough food to feed on without attracting notice," Laurent mentioned. James and Victoria looked towards Carlisle with curiosity in their eyes waiting for the answer

"Why don't you come back to our home with us and we can talk comfortably?" Carlisle invited. "It's a rather long story. I'm afraid that the main house is being remodeled but we'll go to one of the other cabins to talk." James and Victoria exchanged a surprised look at the mention of the word ' _ **home**_ ,' but Laurent controlled his expression better.

"That sounds very interesting, and welcome." His smile was genial. "We've been on the hunt all the way up from Washington, and we haven't had the chance to clean up in a while." His eyes moved appreciatively over Carlisle's refined appearance.

"Please don't take offense, but we'd appreciate it if you'd refrain from hunting in this immediate area. We have to stay inconspicuous, you understand," Carlisle explained.

"Of course." Laurent nodded. "We certainly won't encroach on your territory. We just ate outside of Hope, anyway," he laughed. A shiver ran up my spine. That was bad; Hope was our town after all.

"We'll show you the way if you'd like to run with us — Emmett and Alice, you and Edward and Bella gather the equipment together and meet us later," he casually added. It was a clear if veiled order to gather the children and run as soon as they were away from us, Carlisle was trying to get out of this without it coming to a fight. Three things seemed to happen simultaneously while Carlisle was speaking. My hair ruffled with the light breeze, which came from directly behind us and I could smell the scent of the children in the air, Edward stiffened, and the second male, James, suddenly whipped his head around, scrutinizing the tent, his nostrils flaring. A swift rigidity fell on all of us as James lurched one step forward into a crouch. Edward bared his teeth, crouching in defense, a feral snarl ripping from his throat. It was nothing like the playful sounds I was used to hearing from him, it was the single most menacing thing I had ever heard, and chills ran from the crown of my head to the back of my heels. I copied him a moment later backing a little closer to the tent.

"What's this?" Laurent exclaimed in open surprise. Neither James nor Edward and I relaxed our aggressive poses. James feinted slightly to the side, and Edward shifted in response while I backed closer to the tent.

"There's nothing there." Carlisle's firm rebuff was directed toward James. Laurent seemed to catch the scent less powerfully than James, but awareness now dawned on his face.

"You brought a snack?" he asked, his expression incredulous as he took an involuntary step forward. "No, not a snack. I know those scents from years ago." Edward snarled even more ferociously, harshly, his lip curling high above his glistening, bared teeth. Laurent stepped back again. And everyone growled and crouched in defense of the tent.

"They are with us," Carlisle corrected in a hard voice.

"Hybrids," Laurent mentioned. The words were not at all aggressive, merely astounded.

"Yes." Emmett was very much in evidence at Carlisle's side, his eyes on James. James slowly straightened out of his crouch, but his eyes never left me, or rather the tent behind me, his nostrils still wide. Edward stayed tensed like a lion in front of me.

When Laurent spoke, his tone was soothing — trying to defuse the sudden hostility. "It appears we have a lot to learn about each other."

"Indeed." Carlisle's voice was still cool.

"But we'd like to accept your invitation." His eyes flicked toward me and back to Carlisle. "And, of course, we will not harm the hybrids. We won't hunt in your range, as I said." James glanced in disbelief and aggravation at Laurent and exchanged another brief look with Victoria, whose eyes still flickered edgily from face to face.

Carlisle measured Laurent's open expression for a moment before he spoke. "We'll show you the way. Jasper, Rosalie, Esme?" he called. They gathered together, blocking the tent from view as they converged. Alice was instantly at my side, and Emmett fell back slowly, his eyes locked on James as he backed toward us.

James, however, would have none of that. His mind was intent on the hunt and he wanted the blood of the babies, especially the three that had eluded him for years. He took a step forward and I could feel the tell tale explosion within me as he had more than exceeded my limit. My shield flew out encompassing our whole family and the tent beneath its umbrella of protection and I immediately hardened it to provide the physical protection. A small fireball appeared in my palm but I had enough sense to keep it hidden until it was needed. "James stop." Laurent tried but it was no use as James started to charge at us and the family crouched in defense ready to pounce. It was unnecessary though since James smashed into the shield about 10 feet away from us. He roared as he tried to pound against the invisible barrier but found no way through. "Incredible," Laurent whispered stunned and I smiled evilly as I straightened up from my crouch.

"He won't get through that, no matter what," I told everyone taking Edward's shoulder in my hand to calm him a little. We all laughed at James's efforts to get through now joined by Victoria, though I could tell she was also looking around for an escape route. When self-preservation won out, she grabbed James and started pulling him away. He understood there was too much danger and started to back away.

"This isn't over," he growled in menace but I did not take kindly to threats and stepped forward from behind my family so I wouldn't accidentally hurt any of them.

"You wanna bet. Come and face me little coward or are you gonna run and hid behind your little mate's skirts? Maybe you should have brought your mama to hide you as you're clearly not man enough to face a newborn, let alone her elder family. And I thought you had thought we were weak because of our eyes," I taunted letting him know I knew his thoughts. It was a clear ploy meant to not allow them to leave, as they would be coming after the children if they left this clearing alive and no one threatened my cubs. Carlisle tried to get me to stop and let them go, but Esme and Rose stopped him as they understood the same thing I did, they were a threat to the babies and the most dangerous animal was a mother protecting their young, which we were. Alice smiled seeing the outcome as soon as I said the words, just as I did. James growled and pulled his arm free of Victoria as he turned back snarling. Clearly I'd hit a nerve, after all men did not like being called cowards and I just did. I just smiled back innocently, but the challenge was clear in my eyes. I stepped out of the protection of my external shield secure in the knowledge that the secondary shield which only protected me was active, and also knowing that he had nothing that he could do to me with the power I wielded. "What's the matter? Hit a nerve did I? Oh, poor little James, he's so scared of the tiny little newborn and so scared of strong opponents he has to go after babies. Apparently the poor little tracker needs to get Victoria to give him back his balls, if he ever had any to begin with." That got the whole family roaring in laughter and James could take no more and launched himself at me, exactly what I wanted. I decided to play with my powers a little and took to the air, flying away from his lunge before he could reach me. "What's wrong little man, too high for you?" I taunted as he tried to jump up and grab me but I just flew away from his reach. I saw out of the corner of my eye, Emmett, Jasper and Carlisle restraining Edward, who was too worried about my being in danger to realize James was no threat to me, not with as many powers as I had, my sweet over protective love. I giggled at James as he once again tried to grab me and flew down a little lower and punched his face in just as he reached my height, smashing him to the ground. "FYI, I'm no ordinary newborn," I taunted him, and reminded my love at the same time.

James was really too mad to think straight and so kept trying to jump up to grab me and I merely smashed him back into the ground. I soon grew bored of this little game and remembered the small ball of fire still in my hand and flew up higher out of his reach as I threw it at Victoria. I had intended for him to try to rescue her, but he paid no attention and Victoria got hit and her clothes caught on fire. He paid no attention to her even as she screamed for his help and rolled on the ground to put it out. I quickly vanished the flames from her as I asked, "See what is in his mind, Victoria? He doesn't care about you; you're just a convenience to him. He's got even less love for you than a hunter for his mount and I would know," I said tapping my temple and Edward smiled and copied the gesture, knowing what I was doing. Victoria was a threat so long as she blindly followed James and the poor woman really needed to be shown the error of her ways. As soon as the fire was out she got up and ran away from us, leaving James alone. He never turned to even look at her as he still tried to grab me. I got bored of this and flew down to grab him by the shoulders. " **NO ONE MESSES WITH MY BABIES** ," I whispered in his ear before I bit his head off and tore his arms from his torso in mid air before dropping the pieces to he ground. Once they landed I sent another ball of fire onto the remains which quickly started burning. Once that was done I landed on the ground and stepped back into my shield, keeping it up because Laurent was still here, though Victoria would not be coming back.

Edward smiled and grabbed me as soon as I was in range squeezing me tightly to his chest, "Don't ever do that again," was all he said.

"Do what?" I tried to play innocent.

"Take on a vampire like that. You almost gave me a heart attack," he cried squeezing me tighter to him.

I laughed and kissed his cheek. "Edward, I had it all under control. I was playing with him. We both know that he had nothing that could hurt me, but I have plenty to hurt him with," I said reminding him of my abilities. "And if I didn't to it that way then we were risking a fight and casualties as Alice and I saw, and possibly some of those casualties would be the babies."

"It's true," Alice spoke up. "Shield or no shield if it turned into a fight there was a chance that he could have gotten in and gotten to the babies or managed to hurt one of us. Bella made the right decision, and also you have to admit it was bloody hilarious to watch him try to take her on. Even better than when Bella humiliates Emmett."

"True," Edward and Jasper seconded. Emmett was laughing too hard to speak but he nodded in agreement.

"But why did you let the female go?" Rose asked.

"She was only a threat as long as she was following James. It's why I sent that fireball at her; to show her how much James really cared about her. He never spared her a glance, not even when she was screaming for his help. Any other male who cared about his partner even a little bit would have turned to help her, but he didn't. And she reacted exactly as I wanted her to, she ran and left him to his own devices."

"I think you were much to kind to let her alive," Rose said.

"Well, I am my father's daughter," I said and Carlisle grinned giving me a one-armed hug.

"Maybe we should go after her and finish this. She could return later," Rose said.

"No, let her go. She's no threat," Carlisle said.

"Like father like daughter," Emmett stage whispered in a loud voice and we all just laughed.

"So what do we do with him," Jasper asked indicating Laurent with his thumb. We all looked over at him, remembering that he was still with us and saw him trembling ever so slightly. He was scared of the display he'd just witnessed where a young vampire had toyed with his companion as if he were a mere human and then destroyed him by forming fire out of thin air. His wary eyes rested solely on me, afraid of what I might do to him. His mind told me that, while he was very much fearful of me, he was even more curious about our family, after all, however it was that I managed to toy with James, it was clear that I was not weak, and if I wasn't a weakling like they had thought because of our eyes, then the rest of the family couldn't be weak either and he wondered about what it was that we did here.

It was then that the Denalis finally arrived. They were tense and crouching ready for a fight, but looked around confused as they saw a calm atmosphere and a pyre where there was a vampire burning and no one was harmed. "Uh, what did we miss?" Irina asked.

"Oh, nothing much. Just Bella handing a vampire his keister. No biggie," Emmett laughed and then proceeded to fill them in on what had happened, which promptly had them laughing just like the rest of us.

Eleazar shook his head, "Aro had sent me all over the world in search of anomalies like her, and Carlisle just stumbles across the most powerful by accident and she turns out to be just like her daddy."

Carlisle laughed, "Finally, a daddy's little girl. All the others like Esme."

"Oh but I like Mommy," I said and grabbed Esme snuggling up to her in a very childish way, just like my kids did with me. Esme promptly wrapped her arms around me laughing.

"Your own fault dear," Esme laughed as Carlisle grumbled playfully.

Irina brought our focus back to Laurent when she reminded us that he was still there. He looked shocked and confused beyond belief. "Nothing stopped James when he got started. Nothing could bring him down. I'd never seen anything like him in my three hundred years. He was absolutely lethal. That's why I joined his coven. And yet he was just a game to her the girl, to all of them." Laurent shook his head in astonishment. He glanced at me, perplexed, and back to Carlisle. "How is this possible?"

"She's gifted," was all Carlisle would say on the matter. Laurent understood he would not get any more information on me. He deliberated for a moment. His eyes took in every face, and finally swept the clearing.

"I'm intrigued by the life you've created here. How can any of this be possible? How can you maintain a permanent residence in one area? And why are your eyes yellow?" We knew his questions weren't meant to sound rude he was just very confused and quite a bit frightened.

Tanya stepped forward. "We are all vegetarians. We live off of the blood of animals. Because we have given up the blood of humans we are able to remain in one area for extended periods and interact and live among humans without notice. It takes much strength of will and character to do this, to give up our natural food source and feed on something that is not as satisfying and only on that. It is the blood of these animals that turn our eyes yellow and Bella's eyes are amber because she's still a newborn. Carlisle, for example, is a doctor at the human hospital. An actual doctor, not a pretender like some other vampires are. He operates on humans, has their blood on his hands as he works to save their lives and has never once drank a drop of human blood, not even when turning his family members. Over time he trained himself to immune to the scent of human blood, through much pain and sacrifice," she began.

"Not many vampires are strong enough to follow our lifestyle though. It isn't easy and accidents do happen some times, but in return for this, we are able to form true bonds of love, which is far more precious than mere gratification of need. We're not a coven, but a family, a true family and we are easily able to stay together because our bond is far stronger than those that exist in a normal coven," Carlisle continued.

Laurent seemed to debate with himself for a while before looking around at all of us. As we were still under the protection of the shield, Edward and I had opened the tent up to gather our children who were starting to cry still being so scared. Esme and Rose joined us to calm their own kids as well. I knew he'd seen them, but there was no threat in that. If anything he knew it would be his head on a platter if he even thought about attacking the little ones. While the others spoke, explaining our lifestyle to him, my babies were wrapped around mine and Edward's legs crying while we did our best to soothe them. It took a while since I didn't like using Jasper's gift on them because I felt it was necessary for them to deal with their own emotions on their own, but eventually the kids calmed down and relaxed knowing they were safe now. I took the time to look around and saw that Carlisle was further way from us than before talking with Laurent and Tanya. Long ago I had trained myself to allow the shield to form wrappings around the people I guarded to allow them to move away from me, so this did not concern me because he was still shielded and I had shielded the Denalis as soon as they arrived and also because I could feel no threat in the area. I felt I couldn't let the shield down simply because I didn't trust Laurent not to try something, well really it was only a reflex reaction to a stranger being amongst us. After a while, Carlisle, Laurent and Tanya came back to our main group and the kids quickly hid behind us in fright of the stranger with Lestat, Akasha, and Tarquin clinging to my legs in fright since they recognized him from before when his coven had hunted them. I had half a mind to incinerate him for trying that, but I could see he meant no harm now, though I would not let my guard down.

"I've decided that I want to try. To try to live as you all do, if you'll teach me," Laurent said. Carlisle looked over our family and I shook my head at him slightly and communicated with him telepathically.

" _ **I can't keep the shield up indefinitely dad, and I don't trust him. Remember, he did hunt Lestat, Akasha and Tarquin with the other two and would have drained them dry along with them if he'd gotten the chance. I can't be certain he won't try again and I don't think we should risk it,"**_ I told him in my mind.

" _ **I know. I spoke with Tanya about it and he won't be staying here but go with them. I don't particularly trust him either but he seems willing to try at least,"**_ Carlisle reassured me.

"You're welcome to join us in Denali and learn with us," Tanya invited him.

I sent a thought at her. _**"Tanya, be careful with him. You have hybrids too and he is one of the vampires that had hunted my older kids before they came to me. He could pose a threat to them so I think you better make sure he knows that they are there and what will happen if he poses a threat to your kids. Otherwise he may be tempted to harm them since he would have never thought twice about hurting Lestat, Akasha, and Tarquin and I can see in his mind that he had wondered what hybrid blood would taste like."**_

Tanya nodded; on this at least we could agree, as she loved her niece and nephews as much as we loved ours. "I am afraid though that I must warn you of something. Our family also has three young hybrids and we know that you had once hunted some with your coven though you didn't get to them as they now stand right here behind their mother. I will warn you now, that if you choose to come with us, you will not go near the young ones or pose a threat to them. If at any time we believe you pose a threat we will not think twice about destroying you or even wonder if there was an actual threat our merely our imaginations. Our family as well as the Cullen family are very close, like extended family and we often come for visits to this area or they visit us. If you're with us the same warning goes for them, and I'm afraid you've already seen what happens when there is a threat to these young ones," Tanya said pointing at the pyre where James was still burning.

"Of course, I have no wish to harm them," Laurent said. I nodded at everyone to show that he was telling the truth; though it still remained to be seen whether or not that was a promise he could keep. Tanya nodded in acceptance and led him to their cabin to meet the other members of their family and so he could join them in the car for the trip back to Denali. As soon as he was a ways away I took a deep breath and let the shield down, falling to my knees.

"Bella!" Edward cried wrapping his arms around me and picking me up bridal style.

I smiled weakly at him as I snuggled into his chest. "I'm fine really. Just a little exhausted. It's the first time I've held the shield up for so long." I hadn't noticed before but a little over two hours had passed since I put up the shield and on top of that I had been using some of my other gifts at the same time so I was exhausted.

Carlisle smiled as he ruffled my hair playfully, knowing full well that I was downplaying how I really felt for Edward's sake. "Perhaps that's something we need to start working on along with your control. Increasing your endurance when using your gifts." I nodded in agreement as we all ran back to the main lodge with Edward carrying me all the way home.

When we got there, we saw that the Denalis plus Laurent were ready to leave and go back to their home. We hugged them goodbye and watched as they drove away before going our separated ways to our own homes to relax after today and get ready for school since classes started the next day.

 **Victoria POV**

I watched as the vampires left the clearing and were gone for some time before running to the pyre where my love was now nothing more than smoldering ashes. They had put out the fire after there was nothing left. I sobbed as I knelt before the pyre. I had not meant to run, but my gift had taken over after the newborn had attacked me and forced me to run. I sobbed as I stuck my hands into the pyre and rubbed his ashes against my skin, the last time he would ever touch me. From between the ashes, I found the chain that James had always worn around his neck, a gift from his maker. Dangling from it was the pendant in the shape of a teardrop that I had given him. I gathered as much of his ashes as I could into it before shutting it and crushing the edges to make sure none would fall out before putting it on and gathered the rest in my shawl to spread them from a cliff like our maker had taught us. I then ran with my precious bundle as far away from the clan as I could, running endlessly for days until I reached the very same cliff we had spread our maker's ashes from. With one last kiss to the locket I opened the shawl and let my loves ashes fly free in the winds. "I'll be with you soon, my love," I told the ashes as they flew away from me. "But first I shall avenge you. That newborn will learn the meaning of pain and beg for death by the time I'm through with her, of this you have my word, beloved," I vowed as I watched the ashes float free on the breeze until I could see them no more…

 **Chapter 14: Going to School**

 **Bella POV**

It was the first day if school, and it was the first time ever I could say I was exited to go to school. I know how strange that is, but it's how I felt. School would be all new for me and I looked forward to seeing how different it would be to the dim memories I had of school as a human. I was starting Junior year with Edward and Alice while Rose, Emm, and Jazz were starting senior year. We'd gotten our schedules in the mail, but unfortunately I had no classes with Edward or any or my siblings I didn't like that and so Edward and I were headed to the office as soon as we pulled up in his Volvo and parked to change our schedules so that we had a few classes together. The school was a small complex, with several brick building around them reminding me a lot of Forks High, actually it looked almost identical with the exception that there were some wooded structures as well which I learned during the tour I'd taken the week before as a new student, that they were the office, gymnasium, cafeteria and the classrooms for the teen parents program, though that building was hidden in the back of the complex. I had wondered if perhaps Edward and I should be taking courses there, considering we had 15 kids and whether Rose and Emmett would be joining us as well. When I mentioned it to Edward, he had laughed and said that we probably should be but we would shock the hell out of the teachers for having 15 babies most of which would be in diapers for decades if not centuries. I imagined it when he said that and almost busted a gut laughing so hard at the thought of the looks on their faces. My excitement quickly went out the window as soon as I got out of the car and noticed all the students staring at me, just like my first day at Forks High, with the only difference being that now I was on Edward's arm. Over the past few months as we had been working on exposing me to humans, Edward had made it a point to make certain that everyone knew we had a relationship. I didn't mind one bit because it showed all the swooning little girls that were after him that he was already taken. I could see the envy on every girl's face and about half of the guys' faces and the lust on the boys' faces as well as Edward kissed my cheek. I could finally see why the beauty we possessed was a curse because of all the lustful looks we received but I ignored them all. Edward opened the door to the office for me and we walked in together; it always made me feel so special when he did things like that.

The office was very similar to the one in Forks high only much bigger. The waiting area had padded folding chairs and a gray commercial carpet with many stains all over it. Notices and awards cluttered the walls and there was little trophy case proudly displaying the few trophies the school had won many years ago. Edward had told me that no team in the school had managed to win any games in many years or any cheerleading trials. Alice had wanted us to join, but Carlisle has still not agreed since he was concerned about exposure. Plants grew everywhere in large plastic pots, as if there wasn't enough greenery outside and some were tropical plants and I had to wonder how they managed to survive in this freezer. The room was cut in half by a long counter, cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly colored flyers taped to its front. There were 4 desks behind the counter, one of which was manned by a thin, brown-haired woman in her 40's wearing glasses. She looked like a librarian type, very non descript. She was wearing a purple t-shirt and really tight jeans and I felt over dressed in the clothes Alice had forced me into; a tight dark blue silk blouse and tight black designer jeans with silver high heeled boots and a silver hair band with a small crystal heart that had been my Gran's, beneath a designer jacket in black with silver swirling patterns. Around my neck I wore the necklace Edward had given me after the first time we were together, a crystal heart charm dangling from a thin gold woven chain, which had belonged to his mother. Alice had later told me that the crystal was actually a diamond and I had freaked out, but Edward had calmed me and reminded me that no one would think it was a diamond as rocks that big were quite rare, everyone would assume it was a crystal just as I did. I had still not wanted to wear it out of the house, but Edward's big puppy dog eyes convinced me. She smiled at us her eyes raking over Edward's body in a way that was entirely inappropriate, especially as she was in her forties and Edward was a teenager; okay not really, but he appeared to be. "How can I help you, Edward?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him and pointedly ignoring me even as I was holding on to his arm. I could hear the lewd offers she was making at him in her thoughts and was torn between gagging, laughing at her and wanting to tear her head off. I settled for wrapping my arm around Edward's bicep and leaning into him, a move that was not lost on the woman.

Edward rolled his eyes slightly before smiling charmingly at her, "We really need to change our scheduled, **Mrs**. Saavikam," he told her, hiding the emphasis in her title as a married woman.

"Is there something wrong with them?" she asked.

I decided to speak up. "It's just that we have no classes together or with any of our siblings and since I'm new our father thought it best that I be accompanied by my family to help me if I need anything." I smiled at her, subtlely grabbing Edward's arm tighter and stepping a little in front of him. She was annoying me with the looks she was sending to him, like she wanted to throw him on the desk and ravish him right then and there.

"Oh," she said as he pulled out the binder with all of the class schedules to make new ones for us. After a few minutes, Edward and I shared almost all our classes together except the math class since he was taking Calculus and I was in Statistics and one elective since he was taking Music, and I was taking French. We had Biology, Bio chem., Spanish, English lit I, Anatomy, Gym, Life Skills, Government, History, and Art together. It seemed like a lot of classes, but we actually only took a few each day and rotated between different courses daily, like a college schedule and we had two library period each day for working on assignments. Edward and I walked out of the office and showed our schedules to our siblings so that they could copy them too. In the end, Alice was in our Government class, Emmett in our History and Art class, Rose and Jasper had Anatomy, Spanish and Bio Chem. with us, wile Alice had Stat with me and Jasper took French with me and we all had Gym together at the end of the day, even our library hours were scheduled so that we were all together at the same time. We did this because we thought it would be better if we had classes together so that I we would have someone to talk to and also to help me out and keep an eye on me in case of problems because I was still only a few months old though I had amazing self-control. After sorting out our schedules we headed to class…

 **Jacob POV**

The phrase _**'Life had gone to hell in a hand basket'**_ doesn't even come close to describing how things had changed in my life. After Bella's suicide, her father was accused of her murder. It seemed like from beyond the grave Bella had made sure that Charlie could hurt no one else like he'd hurt her, and she did it by leaving her bloodstained diary with all the information on how Charlie and earlier her stepfather had hurt her. If I had been Bella I would have committed suicide too, and it could have been called a murder considering everything. I mean Charlie may as well have slashed her wrists, which we knew that he did even if he denied it in court, but even if he hadn't, he may as well have. My sisters had both come home after he was arrested and it was only then that we learned that Charlie had hurt them too, and threatened to kill them, me and Billy if they tried to tell anyone. Rebecca had even become pregnant by him and so her elder son and daughter were actually Bella's half siblings because she'd decided to have them and keep them. It was one of the main reasons that they only came home so infrequently, I mean sure Rebecca had married a Samoan surfer after her twins were born and he'd adopted the twins and they'd moved to Hawaii and plane tickets from Hawaii were expensive so she couldn't come home very often and Rachel had been in Washington State studying Pre-Med to become a doctor which I knew to be very time consuming. But Rachel always made sure she was too busy taking classes even in summer recess and working on holidays to come home even for a short visit, except when Billy had been hospitalized with pneumonia 3 years ago. She'd graduated in 2 ½ years from her bachelor and quickly started working on a certificate before going to med school and the schools she was applying to were all very far away. There were so many odd things that were explained after Bella died and I was enraged that all of that had happened and I couldn't protect my sisters or even Bella, whom I'd had a huge crush on and hoped to be able to date some day, while at the same time knowing she was out of league.

I was so angry all the time, and couldn't even figure out why I was angry half the time. It wasn't until I watched the trial on TV and saw Charlie crack on the stand and confess to raping and beating Bella but insisting that he didn't murder her that I exploded. Literally. I felt myself start to shake and could dimly hear my sisters trying to reach me but my father held them back. I looked into his face and saw a knowing look, then I exploded. The next thing I knew I was no longer myself but a giant russet wolf and was staring at my knowing father and my frightened sister. To top it all off I could hear several voices in my head, talking to me, trying to calm me and telling me to leave the house and head into the forest to meet them. Billy told me to go outside, that it would be better and I would understand. Well he was wrong on all counts. I ran outside and met up with 4 other wolves, Sam Uley, Paul, Jared, and Embry, the La Push gang as I had begun to call them. Sam had me sit down and calm down so I could change back. Once I was calm enough, I found myself changed back to my human form and the five of us sat down and it was only then that I learned the truth behind the myths I'd been taught since the cradle. I was a werewolf, the Cullens were real and they really were vampires, and worse of all, this was a life sentence, or rather eternal sentence, because wolves were as immortal as vampires so long as they kept changing and it was very hard to give up our wolf side and stop the change. Worse than this, I was not only a werewolf but the true pack leader because Ephraim Black, the last Alpha, had been my great grandpa and Alpha blood ran undiluted in my veins and all that crap. I felt as if I'd been drafted into a war I never knew existed and I didn't like it. Sam had been acting as Alpha and offered to step down and let me take my place but I would not step up, I did not want any of this and I refused to be this great mystical chieftain everyone expected me to become. I just wanted to be normal but it wasn't to be.

Within 3 weeks, our pack grew from 5 to 16 wolves, 15 males and the 1st female in all of our history to change, Leah Clearwater who'd been Sam's girlfriend before he'd found his imprint in Emily Young, Leah's cousin, who'd made the change after her father had died, with her younger brother Seth following 2 weeks after her. Twelve-year-olds were starting to phase and we figured out that it was because, although the Cullens were gone which had been the catalyst that had initiated the changes, there were still vampires in the area and they were hunting in our lands as well as Forks. We were unable to catch them, despite our great numbers; it was like they had a talent for getting away from trouble because they always seemed to be able to find the most improbable ways to escape us. Eventually they left the area, but the damage had been done, and we had the largest pack that was ever seen, even larger than the original pack when our ancestor had first made the change. Things at home weren't exactly peachy either. It took my sisters a solid month before they would stop being afraid of me and would come near me again, before Becca would let my niece and nephews near me. My father had filled them in on what had happened to me, and after Leah had phased they became frightened that perhaps they too would phase as well. They were so frightened that they plum decided to come back home, although Rachel would have come home anyway because Paul had imprinted on her, which I so didn't like, but there was nothing that could be done since imprinting was a permanent thing. Rebecca was estranged from her husband and preparing a divorce after she'd caught him cheating on her, and with a man no less and had brought her twins and new baby boy with her back home. It was nice to have my sisters and niece and nephews home and eventually my sisters became less frightened of me. It was nice to be a family again so things were not all that bad.

And just when I thought things were almost okay, wham another bombshell. A five-year-old girl got lost in the woods and the wolves went out to find her. We found only her remains; she'd been assaulted and killed and it looked like a vampire attack. It was close to the Cullen property and Sam assumed it had been them even though we checked the house and there was no trace of their scent anywhere, except for the very faint traces that were still plain to our noses. They'd been gone for months; there was no reason to believe that they had anything to do with that killing. But Sam was convinced and he'd decided to hunt them down and kill them. Most of the wolves agreed with him on hunting the Cullens, hell I agreed, but there was no reason and we all knew it. It caused a lot of friction between the pack and eventually, when Sam used his Alpha command to force me to obey him and go hunt the Cullens, I could take no more. When I found myself broken at his paws I would not accept that and accepted my true birthright. I was after all, Ephraim Black' son and the true Alpha and had not been born to bow down to Levi Uley's pup. I felt the fire of my birthright take hold and free me from my enforced submission to Sam. He tried to get me to obey, but I would not and ran off, cast out of the pack that was my family and home. Tension was high in the reservation after that since two Alpha males could not coexist in one small area, but more so after Leah, Embry, Quil and Seth joined my pack. Quil had an imprint though, Emily's 2 year old niece, and though it was a little strange, we all knew there was nothing wrong with that. It happened some times. There were no romantic thought about her at all in his mind, and I knew because when we were in our wolf forms we could hear each other's thoughts, he was just her big brother and protector and when she was older, he would be her best friend, and when she was all grown up if she wanted things to change, only then would his feelings turn to romance. But because he'd imprinted on Emily's niece Claire, he had to be at Sam's place a lot, which only increased tension. After Claire's parents, who'd been brought in on the secret and understood and accepter Quil, were killed in a car crash their will stated that she be given to Quil to care for which was the only thing that didn't cause problems throughout the whole mess because she belonged to Quil so it was only right that he care for her and so he'd taken her in and came to live with me and my family to have some help from my sisters, which meant Emily was always at our place, and that caused more tension between the packs.

We just couldn't see eye to eye on anything. And of course there was also the fact that the alpha was a very competitive instinct and there had been more times than I cared to count where Sam and I and the two packs had come very close to having a fight, which was the one thing neither side wanted, we were family of course and didn't want to get to that point but two packs and two alphas could not continue to live in the same place. Finally, when tensions had escalated to a point where no one could tolerate them any longer; going so far that the entire tribe was now aware that the legends were true and the pack was back and much larger than before; a council meeting was called and the whole tribe and both packs attended. Around the central fire, Billy and I sat with Quil's ancient grandfather Quil Altera Sr., Sue Clearwater, who'd taken her husband's place in the council after his death, and Sam. More than once I had to subdue the alpha in me as I had Sam, another alpha, so close, and I could see Sam was struggling to contain the instinct as well, clearly highlighting that we could not continue to be so close to one another, at least not until the issue was resolved.

"We have never had anything even remotely similar happen to the tribe before," Quil Sr. began. "This is the largest pack that has ever been seen; not even in the time of our forefathers was the pack so large. And the fragmentation of the pack with two competing alphas is also unheard of. The council wishes to know why this has happened, why did the pack break apart?"

I decided to speak up. "We weren't having problems before, at least not to the magnitude that created the split." I was not sure why I spoke up or where this vocabulary was coming from, but part of me felt it had to do with my status as the true alpha, Billy's eyes told me I was correct. "It is no secret that I did not, and still do not though I have now no choice in the matter, wish to be the alpha, I had left that burden to Sam who was older and I felt was more qualified than me to lead. It is also no secret that not all of us agreed on everything and also no secret that most of us felt like Sam was over using the alpha command and making us follow his way of thinking, which was causing problems with in the pack. When that little girl was lost in the woods we all went to search for her, there was no question on that command. When we found her dead, and apparently at the hands of a vampire, we were all enraged and wanted to go after the murderer."

"And we were going to go after them," Sam interrupted.

"No we were not, and you know it Sam. Yes, it's true that the girl was found close to the Cullen property, but they had been gone for months and the scent of the murderer was unfamiliar, clearly not one of the ones in the Cullen coven. We checked the property and the scents were faint, months old. They have not been in the area since they moved away. There was no breach of the treaty and no reason to hunt them down. But Sam had been convinced that it was them and wanted to hunt them and would not be swayed no matter what we said or did. I will not deny that we all agreed to hunting the Cullens, they are vampires after all and it's only our nature. But the treaty was made for a reason, and they have not violated it. Eventually we did find the murderer to be a nomad and disposed of him proving that the Cullens were innocent. Now because Sam could not be spoken to and because he forced us to obey him with the alpha command, even going so far as to make those who opposed him like myself and Seth, kneel before the command. My birthright as the true alpha exerted itself and I broke free and would not follow him for something that had no reason for being. The fragmented pack formed when Seth, Leah, Quil, and Embry followed me. It was not my doing and they can attest to the fact that they came of their own free will, I even tried to convinced them to return, but would not use the command on them as what had been done to us. They stayed as my pack because they wanted to and as always I reiterate that they can leave if they so wish, I do not force my command on anyone and did not force them to join me as I've been accused of." Leah, Quil, Embry, and Seth second my position and corroborated my statement. We Quileute had a code of honor and did not lie to one another, a reflection of the fact that the pack could not lie to one another because they could read each other's minds, so when we made statements to the council they were generally believed and accepted.

Sue spoke up, "I know that all Jacob says is true as both of my children have told me the same thing on many occasions. I have even seen the interaction of both packs and can see that both have very different managerial styles. Sam, I have often seen wolves bowing down to you and know that it's because of the alpha command. I understand that sometimes it is necessary but I do believe that you use your command far too much. On the other hand, I have never once witnessed a wolf bowing down to Jacob. It's possible that when he gives a command it is layered with the alpha command but not too much, only enough to enforce things but not to force once will on anyone. You're both good leaders in your own ways, that's not the issue debated here, though I believe that the entire council can agree that perhaps Sam should cut back his use of the alpha command." The council nodded in agreement, and Sam bowed his head accepting the order. "The issue at hand is simply, how we can end tensions among the packs so harmony can be restored to this tribe." Shouts began amongst the tribe, some voting for me to step up and assume command over the whole pack, others voted for me to step down and let Sam lead, still others voted for setting ground rules for both packs to make interacting and coexisting easier. It took a bit to get everyone back under control and when finally the tribe had calmed down Rachel asked for permission to speak.

Once she was granted permission to speak, she explained a few things. "I think that there is no easy answer as to how to end the tensions. Though they are human, they are also wolves and the wolf in this case may be the one causing the problems and it goes for all pack members. As sister to a member of one pack and imprint to a member of another, I have often witnessed their interactions. It's more reminiscent of two wolf packs living in close proximity to one another in the wild. Wolves in the wild live in packs. Two packs cannot coexist in one area because they would be competing with each other for the same limited resources. Also two alpha males cannot coexist in one space because that instinct is far too competitive. Male wolves have an innate need to be dominant and the same is true for the werewolves given everything we've all witnessed. The only clear solution is for one of the alphas to step down and the other to assert his dominance over the packs thus unifying them, or to separate the two packs and give each a territory so there won't be a need for tension to exist."

"That's a bit technical, Rach, I mean we are human too," Paul said.

"Technical, yes, but Paul you can't deny that half of the problems come from the fact that the wolves don't see eye to eye and half come from the instinct you all have as wolves, interactions are even worse when you are in wolf forms than when you're human after all. Or can any of the wolves say I'm wrong?" She looked around and every pack member shook their heads, we couldn't deny she was right on all points.

"Thing is Rach, there's no turning off the alpha once it asserts itself, at least not for me," I told her.

"Levi Uley was the second in the last pack and Ephraim Black was the pack leader. Both families have alpha blood in their lineage, Black undiluted," Quil Altera Sr. stated. "Sam should step down and assume the position of second."

"That won't work, because we still have the problem that the wolves don't see eye to eye so tensions within the pack would continue even after it's merged back together and eventually we would split up once more over something or other," Sam said. I saw him glance at Leah and knew what it was that he was not saying, tensions between him and her would also be problematic.

I shook my head, "I agree with Sam, for once. Rachel's solution is the only one that makes sense. If we want to coexist peacefully, one pack has to leave La Push, there's just no two ways about it." All members of both packs agreed.

Everyone was silent for a long time, families clinging to their wolves not wanting them to leave. "Where and how far apart could we make the packs go so they can coexist? We also have to remember that they are our protectors, and beyond that they need their families, they're human too after all," Embry's mother asked.

Rachel shook her head. "It would have to be far. More so than one pack moving out of the reservation. Wolves in the wild have immense territories with as little overlap as possible. Without the Cullens here, the pack territory extends to cover pretty much the whole Olympic Peninsula. We could cut that in half and both packs could live in harmony, but only so long as the Cullens don't return, which they will eventually. If the Cullens come back both packs will be restricted to La Push once more and problems will arise again, even if it takes 100 years for them to return. They are immortal so long as they continue to phase, it's reasonable to assume that at least some of the pack members might still be around when the Cullens return, after all Quil Altera Sr. was the third in the last pack, and could even still be phasing. Because we cannot count on the whole of the Olympic Peninsula both packs would have to be separated much further than we would hope, and before anyone asks, no we cannot cut the territory of the reservation in half. The two packs are simply too large to coexist in such a confined space. If we did this we would be doing nothing to fix the problem, just creating more. It is after all, the wolf pack aspect we are trying to deal with, not the human aspect. If it was just that, they could learn to live with one another, but wolves cannot. The wolves, which ever pack leaves, need to find a new territory and one that is large and comfortable for the whole pack.

"Just how far are we talking about, Rachel?" Billy asked.

"Outside the peninsula, preferably out of state. But, whichever pack leaves the peninsula, they have a problem. They need to find somewhere to go that is similar and affords them the wooded area and cover they need so they can be wolves, at least until they can give up their wolf selves and our stories say that is no easy feat and requires lots of time and control to be able to do. Both packs are young, which may be part of the problem, but none have as of yet the control necessary to give up their wolves. There aren't a lot of places in the continental U.S. that are similar enough to afford that, even fewer that have the sparse population needed so that chances that they would be exposed are minimized."

"Oregon then," Quil Sr. said. "Still close enough and with enough similarities."

"Too much logging in the area, there isn't enough wood cover in many places and too much population in the once that have the cover from what we saw when we were testing the mind link," Sam said and then sighed. "Canada or Alaska would work best, and going south is out of the question given that there's far more population and even less cover the further south you go from what we gathered in that experiment. And the same goes for further east than Oregon too." All of the wolves nodded in agreement and all of the members of the council sighed. We would essentially be splitting the tribe up, but we just had no choice. At least until the packs could learn to live together peacefully, which seemed impossible to all of us right now.

"The bigger question now is, which pack goes?" Billy pointed out. The families clung tighter to their wolves fearing just who would have to leave, my own sisters were both clinging to my shoulders and Billy had taken my hand as well, but he was resigned, he knew who would leave, just as I did.

I looked into the eyes of my pack, and saw them nod in agreement. "We'll go," I stated.

" **NO!** " my sisters, Embry's mother, Quil's parents, and Sue cried. Billy squeezed my hand tighter.

I took my sister's hands in my own as my pack members started to reassure their families. "There is no other choice. Sam's pack is bigger and there are 11 and 12 year old in it who cannot leave La Push. They can better protect the tribe. We five were always the outcasts in some way or other. It makes more sense for the smaller pack to leave. It's not like we're going into exile, we'll all still come back and be with the tribe for short periods of time," I said, in an attempt to reassure my sisters, but they could not be consoled and started to cry as they hugged me. They knew I was right, but they were my sisters and did not want to see me leave, and the same went for all of the families.

Sue nodded to her children; she was not as hysterical as the parents of the other pack members. "It's best if Jacob's pack moves away. And their families may join them if they so wish. We are a tribe and always will be but many other tribes have split up and moved away from the reservations and still keep to their identities and keep close contact with their roots." She looked at the other parents and stood from her place going over to Embry and his mother and placing a hand on the hysterical woman's shoulder as she cried on her son's shoulder. "I had known this was bound to happen sooner or later since the two packs split up, actually from even before, when the pack numbered at 16 wolves since so many wolves together was bound to cause problems in the pack structure and a rift was bound to happen eventually, it was just sooner than I thought it would be. I wish it could be different, but there are just too many things against both packs living peacefully together. Maybe in the future it can be different, but for now at least we should put so distance between us." She let go of Embry's mom and hugged Seth to her. "I looked up different places where the pack could go. Canada is a little hard as they would stand out too much because of being Native American and living there. Alaska's a better option. There are also plenty of native tribes there and with similar roots to our own so it's not like they would be all alone there and would not stand out as much. Because of what they are, they need to be as inconspicuous as possible."

I nodded, "Alaska's a very large place, where would we go?"

"Hope, Alaska," Seth said. "I helped mom with the research. It's about 100 miles from Denali. And it has several small towns near it but pretty far from it still including a reservation. More importantly the area is mostly untouched wood so we'd have plenty of privacy. There's plenty of game if we feel like hunting, plenty of fish as well in the bay. And good schools as well. Its far but it fits the bill."

"The town also has several ski resorts and hotels as well as privately owned vacation cabins so it gets some traffic during ski season and so strangers in the area are not uncommon. With the economy the way it is, there have been several vacation homes put up for sale and really cheap too. There was one in particular I saw which would work best. It has 20 rooms plus an apartment above the garage and sits on 2 acres of land. It's been on the market for 10 years and the owner is desperate to get it of his hands and is practically giving it away. $85,000 dollars is the asking price. If we can pool our resources together, we may be able to come up with the money and get the property. It would be best not to take out loans or a mortgage on the place because that takes time and with the economy the way it is, its gonna be problematic, particularly a mortgage," Sue explained to the parents of the pack.

"It seems ideal and can house all the wolves plus their families," Quil Sr. said. "I suggest that everyone look over their finances and see if it's feasible."

With that the meeting was adjourned and everyone left to do as the elder suggested. Dad, my sisters and I returned home and he and my sisters quickly set about looking over their accounts to see where the money could be found. My dad told us that my mom had a life insurance policy, which had been used to pay off the house we lived in with a little left over for the kids. It was what he'd used to send Rachel to school with in addition to her scholarship and pay for Rebecca's wedding but the account contained $15,550 dollars that were for me. I had a college fund with $35,000 dollars and decided that we could add that to the pool, but Billy was adamant that I go to college so in the end we'd agreed on using only $5,000 from that account. Rachel was able to add another $5,000 to the pool from her savings but needed to keep most for medical school and Rebecca couldn't really afford more than $5,000 because after the divorce from her husband since he was granted an amnesty from paying child support because Rachel made more money than he did as a flight attendant so he only gave her measly $100 dollars a month for the kids and she had to pay everything else. He hadn't wanted visitation rights so she was, at least free to do as she wished. Beyond this, we'd also decided that both of my sisters would go with me, but Billy would stay behind, not because he didn't wan to come, but because his doctors were here and he really needed to remain under their care so that he could remain healthy. The next morning, the whole tribe met up to see what would be done. Embry's mother had come up with $20,000 dollars for her son, but could not go with him as she could not be transferred so easily from her job or leave the store. She would be supporting him from a far though as she told us and sending him money to help him with his expenses. Quil's parents also would not be coming but they presented $10,500 for him and would also be helping him out, especially for Claire's sake. Sue Clearwater was coming with Seth and Leah but could only afford to add $5000 dollars to the pool because they would be living from her savings until she could get a nursing job. Leah also added $6,000 dollars from her savings to help with the pool. Paul though was a surprise, he not only asked to join my pack so he could go with Rachel, which wasn't the surprising part since she was his imprint and would be leaving with me, but he also added $15,000 dollars to the pool which was the surprise since I thought he was broke. Anyway between the 6 pack members we were able to come up with $87,050 dollars, which put us a bit over the top of the asking price for the house.

Sue placed the call to the realtor and gave him an offer of $75,000 dollars in cash on the property, explaining to us later that the left over money could be used for anything that was needed, like furniture for example. The realtor called her back 3 hours later saying that the offer had been accepted and that since we were paying in cash Escrow would only take a week to close. I was told by Billy that the papers for the house were to be signed in a co-ownership amongst each pack member and he explained them to me when I had to sign them. Hurriedly we all packed and the tribe gathered together to wish us goodbye the night before we had to leave with a huge bonfire party where Sue also handed her position in the council over to Embry's mom. She was still a council member but Embry's mom would be taking her place in the circle while she was gone. In turn Sue was charged with taking care of her son and the other wolves whose parents could not join them. Sue promised to care for them as if we were her own. It was all very formal, but it was a necessity to reassure the parents. The next morning we set off for Alaska.

I had to admit that Alaska was very beautiful and perfect for us. Hope was also a perfect town, small, unassuming and comfortable with strangers so that we didn't stand out. It was summer so we had a bit of time to kill. Good thing too, because the place we bought needed quite a bit of work on it. It had been on the market for 10 years and hadn't been cared for properly so we had a lot of repairs and renovations to do so it was a good thing that we had kept some money from the pool to fix it up. It was also a really good thing that we'd been raised in the traditions of our people, which included being taught carpentry since we were children. All five of us boys were now master carpenters and could do the work on our own even when we needed to replace the roof. Because we did the work on our own it only cost a $9,565 in materials to fix the entire house, or at least the things that needed to be worked on right away like the roof and bathrooms and kitchen, with the bonus that we had gotten really cheap materials from one of the resorts that had stripped a few cabins and sold the lumber and other things cheap. There was still some more work to be done but we would work on it as we could afford it. The rest of the money had to be spent on other important things. The house came fully furnished, but some of the furniture was old and in need of replacing, while some just needed to be fixed up a bit. We fixed what we could and replace what we couldn't and also splurged a bit on getting California king sized beds for the six pack members, reason being that we just couldn't fit into normal beds, even Leah. Billy, Quil's parents and Embry's mom had made arrangements to grant us an emancipation since we were 17 years old so we could own property and be able to have jobs and stuff. With the only condition being that we complete our studies and get good grades. We'd agreed readily and within a few weeks of having moved away, we were granted the emancipations.

The town was small but we all managed to find part time work to help with expenses. Leah found a job as a desk clerk at one of the resorts and had begun to work on a nursing bachelor online, Sue was able to get a nursing job at the local hospital with a part time as a hospice nurse. Seth got a job at the grocery store, Quil managed to get a job working at the local sporting goods store. Paul had a degree in mechanics and found a job working for one of the resorts as a mechanic. Embry found a job as a cashier at the Wal-Mart. Rachel got a full time job as a laboratory technician at the hospital and was continuing to work on her certificate online. Rebecca continued to work as a flight attendant part time while working on a nursing degree online. And I had little trouble getting a job. I was after all an automotive mechanic and had a degree on that so I was hired at the local mechanic quickly. And to supplement what we brought in, all of us boys did carpentry work as well. All in all, we were doing pretty good and could keep up with all of our new responsibilities as young adults. As wolves we patrolled the area, protecting our territory from vampires just as we were meant to do but had to give a wide berth to all the resorts particularly the largest hunting resort, which was private property. By the time school started in the fall, we were fairly well set on everything and it seemed as though everything would be okay now… Yeah sure. Every time I thought that it was when the other shoe dropped. After all _**Life sucks and then you die…**_ _Yeah I should be so lucky._

On the first day of school, Seth, Quil, Embry and I got up early for a quick run before getting ready. We would all be attending the local high school where Quil, Embry and I would be Juniors and Seth would be a freshman. The school at the reservation had had no problems transferring us here so we were starting school on time. There were other new kids in school who'd started a semester before us and one who was starting with us, from what we were told at orientation, so it wouldn't be as strange to have new students. We'd briefly considered the possibility of switching to getting a GED but our parents would not have it, they wanted us to graduate so we would be going to school. And I hated school just like every other teenager. My sisters had set out new clothes for us to wear to school, and I knew the trouble they'd gone to, to find clothes that would fit us since we were so huge and muscular, not an easy feat in Seattle, let alone Alaska as we knew well, particularly as we sometimes still needed to replace the clothes we tore through, so I got dressed without the normal fight you'd expect from a 17-year-old boy being dressed by his sisters. I put on the dark wash jeans and black t-shirt and red leader jacket that had been set out for me along with my new sneakers. I didn't get cold and could go out in just shorts in the middle of a blizzard, but we had to keep up appearances, before stepping out of my room and heading to my rabbit to wait for the other guys to move their tails. Quil appeared first with Claire on his hip, who was starting preschool today. She looked so cute in her pink frilly dress and the ribbons in her hair, a lot like a doll. I gave her, her customary hug from uncle Jay as we routinely did every morning and the Quil set her on her seat to wait for the rest of the boys. He was dress simply, just like me, a purple t-shirt dark jeans a jacket and sneakers. Seth was the next to appear after his mother practically kicked him out the door, to our great amusement. He too wore jeans a yellow t-shirt and black sneakers with a black jacket on his arm. Embry was the last to drag his sorry ass out of the house, still looking like he was half asleep. He wore a blue t-shirt with Lady Gaga's picture on it, dark jeans black sneakers and a brown jacket. We all climbed in the car after checking that we had our schedules and stuff and made the 15-minute drive to school.

When we got to school, we were stared at, of course. After all 4 huge, muscular guys were a sight to see, particularly as we looked like we could be brothers. It annoyed me, but I was still a teenager and liked the attention of the girls as much as the next guy. We'd been lucky enough that we had all our classes together so we didn't need to change anything with our schedules and bypassed the front office and went in the school. I would admit that the school had a strange smell to it, very sweet but it was so faint and covered by the scents of so many hormonal teenagers, I could not positively ID it. I pointed it out to the guys, but they had no idea what it was either. We just put it out of our minds, figuring that it was just the smell of the nearby woods or the plant life that was all over the school some of which we were unfamiliar with. We headed for our first class, Chemistry and quickly got situated.

The day went by uneventfully and the strange scent left my mind as I concentrated on my classes, which I had a lot of as the school had a policy of having its schedule be more like a college. I had Chemistry, Government, Bio Chem., History, Trigonometry, Spanish, Life Skills and Art with all three of my brothers then Quil and I took Biology and Music together, I had English Lit I with Seth, and then all 4 of us met back up together for Gym at the end of the day. Plus we also had one library period together and one where it was just Quil and me while Seth and Embry had a different time for it. I was good thing that we only took some classes daily because otherwise we'd be in school until midnight each day to complete all those 2-hour long class. We also had the third round lunch at 1:00 pm which was really late and we'd resolved to bring snacks with us to school and keep them in our lookers for when we got hungry, after all we were growing wolves and growing teenage boys and needed to eat. At lunch we sat with some students from my earlier Spanish class who'd invited us to join them. They were curious and the girls were very flirtatious which we all liked, but knew nothing could come of it. It was one of the things our pack had agreed on. We wanted to keep something like what happened with Leah and Sam from happening again. One day we would find our imprints and so it was best not to get too involved with someone other than that person. We were all allowed to date, but couldn't get too involved. Still, the attention was nice, and the jealous looks we got from the other guys was a nice stroke to all our egos, there was no denying that. As usual, the kids tried to find out more about us and we told them the public story we'd come up with. The 4 of us plus the older man and 3 women were cousins, which was actually true more or less, and we moved here from Washington with our aunt. We gave no more information than that since that was all we could come up with. Not good but they did as we'd hoped and came up with the rest on their own. One girl from my Spanish class who was named Gina asked me if I'd been living with my aunt long and I told her yes, true enough since we'd all been close to one another on the rez. They all figured we lived with her because our parents were gone. Easy enough but I knew we needed more practice on making up stories about ourselves. We were lucky that this was, for all intents and purposes, a hillbilly town so a lack of history wouldn't be too strange. Gina also seemed to be the school's gossip girl and quickly started to dish out gossip about other students.

I didn't pay attention to her, having never liked that kind of girl who basically lived to spread gossip about others, only to make herself look good. I barely heard her talking about some new students that lived together or something like that. It just wasn't important. The sweet scent I had been noticing off and on throughout the day was present here in the cafeteria and it nagged at a corner of my mind for some strange reason. Particularly when the door opened and I caught a stronger whiff of it coming in from the outside, it was a little painful on my nose but not bad. Maybe I was just fixating on the scent because I was so bored out of my skull and it was the only thing that was slightly interesting. I put it out of my mind and went to get some more food, I was very hungry after all. Time passed slowly and Gina just wouldn't shut up, especially after she caught sight of the boy she seemed to like who was one of the new kids. I wished to god the earth would open up and swallow me whole just to escape her nagging nasal voice. By the time the bell rang I was eager to head on to class, Bio Chem. sounded like a whole lot more fun than sitting there listening to Gina. I would talk to the guys and see if we could sit somewhere else the next day. By the time Gym came around at the end of the day, I was more than eager for the day to be over so that I would be free to leave this place and go for a run, let some steam out. I will say there was one good thing about our schedule. The two library hours meant that we had time to get our homework done so this time I had nothing to do when I went back to the house, except get online to find the book they'd asked for in class, the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, which, according to the teacher was a recompilation of all his plays and sonnets, which we would be working on for the duration of the semester along with the rest of the novels they'd asked for in class. I pulled the list out of my bag to show the guys and ask if they were given the same ones. We compared them and gagged. It seemed we would be working on 15 novels for this semester along with the Shakespeare book, Lord have Mercy. If this was supposed to be similar to a college course, I was starting to dread college.

We went into the boys' locker room to change and once again I noted the strange sweet smell in the air. Only now it was sharp, painful to my nose, like bleach and sugar, sweet to the point of pain and that was to my human nose, it would be worse to the wolf nose. They others also noted the scent and we knew what that meant. **VAMPIRE.** And quite a few of them too. Worse of all was that I could recognize the scent. **CULLENS**. Dear Lord, could we not get away from them. Did we have to end up in the same town as the one they moved too? We looked around but could not spot any of them, it seemed they'd already changed and left the room just before we arrived. Well, at least we would be able to observe how they interacted with people, it was one thing I'd always been a little curious about. The boys and I picked lockers that were side-by-side and as far as possible from the three lockers that smelled of vampires and quickly changed into the uniforms we'd been given. Now I'm no girl but those uniforms were bad, with a capital **B-A-D,** bad. I looked at the mirror wishing there was some way to not have to wear that thing, and seeing that my brothers were looking at themselves and wishing for the same thing. The t-shirts were gray and had no sleeves with the hawk emblem of the school and the name Hope High School stenciled in black on the right breast, and were really tight on us even if they were actually the correct size making me think they were tight on everyone. The white track shorts with gray stripes were also really tight on us and looked more like boxer briefs on us than shorts, though they were the right size, amazingly enough, and reached to mid-thigh. Well the girls would love that. We were also given white track pants and gray hoodies for when we went outside the gym, and those were the only things I might actually wear if it weren't for the fact they were so tight. All in all the uniforms looked horrible on us, were too tight, and really not meant for werewolves. I sighed as I changed into the gym sneakers Rebecca had gotten me and the 4 of us went out together, wary of what we would find outside the locker door.

 **Bella POV**

School was uneventful right up until gym. I found that most of what I was being taught in class was something I'd already covered, and briefly considered the idea of going back to home schooling and getting done with my studies now. But I liked being with Edward far too much. Still it was annoying and boring. The only highlights for me were Biology class, which we found out was mostly a laboratory class where we would be studying different things like reptiles and birds and other stuff, with only about ½ an hour of actual textbook class, and English Lit which was going to be centered around the 15 books assigned for the semester and the Shakespeare plays, which I loved, even if I'd already read all the books and plays and sonnets., after all I did love to read. Lunch was also uneventful though we did need to watch out while pouring blood on our food to make sure no one saw us in the crowded lunch room, but thankfully the 6 of us had a table to ourselves, so it wasn't as hard. The library hours were also a big hit because they meant that we got through with all the homework assignments before heading home, which freed us up to spend time with the children, each other, and our partners, instead of a pile of schoolwork. All in all the day was boring and I wondered why I'd been so excited this morning. Maybe it had something to do with finally getting to be out of the house and interact with people? Well whatever. By the time Gym rolled around I was bored out of my mind and ready to go home, I was eager to see my babies and was contemplating ditching gym and running home to be with them, but Alice grabbed my arm to prevent my plan as soon as she saw it, reminding me that I didn't want to be a bad example for my little ones. Still I knew Gym would be a nightmare because of all the humans crammed into one small space. Though humans didn't appeal to me, it would still be hard, and worse for my siblings still. I followed Rose and Alice to the girls' locker room and quickly changed into the gym uniform. I looked at myself and nearly gagged. I was no fashionista, but these were horrible. We girls wore gray sleeveless t-shirts with white short shorts and gray hoddies and white track pants for the field activities.

"See, this is why I wanted to join the cheerleading team. Cheerleading practice counts a gym class and the uniforms look far better than this crap they give us in gym," Alice complained pulling at the horrid gray shirt.

"I'm not sure I can agree to that, after all I saw the uniforms this morning and they were bad too," I mentioned closing my locker and putting on my sneakers.

"Bad yes," Rose said as she sat beside me to put on her sneakers, "but a hell of a lot better looking than this getup. Maybe we should try to talk to Carlisle again. Maybe those big puppy dog eyes Bella has will work on him. After all, Daddy can't say no to you Bella," she giggled.

I laughed. "If it means no gym class. I'll do my best and maybe add a few cubs to help me out. He can't say no to them either. After all Gym and I have never gotten along."

"True," Alice said. "But at least now you don't have to worry about falling on your face, or anything else from before. Just annoying teenagers gawking at you in this getup." We all laughed as we headed out the door to meet up with the boys on the bleachers.

When we found the boys, they were strangely tense as they pulled us to their sides tightly. "Edward, what is it?" I asked as Edward held me to him and slightly behind his body.

"Dogs," was all he said.

"What?" I asked confused before I saw in his mind what he meant. Four La Push werewolves were here in school with us, in our gym class no less. I followed his line of sight to the other side of the gym and to the other bleachers. Sitting at the top of the bleachers were four enormous Native American boys, and they were looking at us. Worse of all, I recognized them and if I judged the looks of shock on their faces correctly they knew me too. "Quil, Seth, Embry and Jacob," I muttered under my breath. This was bad.

"You know them, Bella?" Jasper asked and I nodded.

"We grew up together, more or less. When I visited Charlie as a child he would often leave me with the Black kids while he and Billy went fishing. Jake and I more or less grew up together and his friends Quil and Embry were usually around too. Seth started hanging with Jake a little after I moved to Forks. Jake and I used to be friends, not close, but we hung out together when I was dragged to La Push or he and Billy came round the house."

"Bella, this is bad," Emmett said. "You remember what we told you on your first day?" he asked and I nodded. "We told you about the La Push pack and why we had to stay away from La Push. The one thing we didn't tell you was that we had a treaty with them, one we made 70 years ago when we first moved to the Olympic Peninsula. If we stayed of their lands they wouldn't reveal us to the humans around them. Thing was that there was one more clause."

I finished for him. "You couldn't create any more vampires, which Carlisle broke when he made me." Edward nodded as he pulled me further behind him, trying to protect me. "But this isn't La Push. We're in Alaska. They have no reason to attack," I tried to say.

"There was no geographic limit to the treaty, and even if there had been, Carlisle made you in Forks," Rose argued. I was upset. There just always had to be something that threatened the family that had to be linked back to me. At least I wasn't a fragile human and could protect them.

"We're in public, if they want to try something, they can't do it now," Jasper said,

"Get close to me," I whispered at vampire pitch to them. "I'll throw the shield out just in case and mold it to each of you. Don't stray more than 20 feet from me as I can't be sure how far I can stretch the shield when I mold it to someone." They nodded and came closer before I threw the shield out and molded it to each of them. Alice pulled out her cell phone and discretely called Carlisle at the hospital and informed him of what had happened and that neither I nor she saw it coming. He told her to stay put at the gym for now and pretend nothing was amiss; we would deal with them later. From then on Gym class was a tense stand off between the pack and our family. Neither side came near to one another, but it looked to me like the wolves were itching for a fight. Well if they wanted a fight, that was fine by me, but it was a fight they would have no hope of winning.

 **Jacob POV**

When the guys and I climbed up on the bleachers we were doing it on purpose, we were looking for the vampires. It took a bit to spot them among the 50 some odd students in the class. I finally spotted them just as three females join the three males on the bleachers at the other side of the gym. I quickly pointed them out to my brothers. And the 4 of us watched them from the other side of the gym. They saw us too of course, and were tense. It was clear school would be tense for us for however long they stayed in the area. We were stuck though and couldn't leave. I looked them over curiously though. I'd never actually seen any of the Cullens before as when they moved to the area we were not allowed to go to Forks much any more and when we went we always gave them a wide berth. Still I knew the two males from the story and the blond bombshell of a female. I had a hard time with her, warring between disgust and grudging admiration since she was pretty to look at. I shifted my focus from them to the three unknown to me. There was the new male and female we were told about who'd supposedly joined the coven after they left the area 70 some odd years earlier. There was one more female on the ranks now, which was being guarded by the one unattached male from the story, clearly he was no longer unattached, if the way he stood guard over her was any indication. For some reason she peaked my interest so I studied her. She was petite, and would reach maybe a little above my waist now, 5'4" or so. She had mahogany brown hair with red highlights in it and pale skin as white as the moon. I saw them speak to each other, but could not hear what they said over the ding of the gym, though clearly the males must have informed them of our presence. When she turned to look at us, my heart about stopped. I knew that face, those high cheek bones I had once daydreamed about caressing and had thought till that moment were long dead.

"Holy shit," I heard Embry say. "That's Bella Swan. She's alive. Kind of."

"No way, her father cremated her immediately after she died," Quil said.

"Apparently not," Seth said. "Wait wasn't the vampire doctor the one that took care of Bella that night?"

"Yeah, that's was Charlie said. Looks like he was telling the truth. He really didn't kill her," Embry said.

"No he killed her, there's no two ways about it," I told them. "I saw all the blood coating the house and the bathroom that night when my dad and I went to his house after Bella was pronounced dead. I'm no doctor, but I'm sure she lost pretty much all her blood that night. We also later saw the pictures of her injuries taken by the paramedics on the TV during the trial along with the video Charlie admitted he shot of his raping Bella and all the other evidence against him. There might not have been an autopsy because it looked very much like a suicide, but the fact remains that he murdered her. I think he must have called the paramedics to make it look like he found her bleeding to death and not already dead when he had been in the house with her that night, less suspicious. He must have waited until he was sure she couldn't be saved so she couldn't point the finger at him, but she did it anyway, in the form of that diary. The vamp doctor must have thought there was no other way to save her and so he changed her before her heart stopped."

"Then who was cremated?" Quil asked. "Because it certainly wasn't Bella, couldn't be if she's standing in front of us."

"Charlie didn't see the body, remember. It could be anyone. An unidentified corpse from the morgue that was similar enough to her to be passed as Bella, probably. Our stories say that he had revealed to Ephraim that he made all his family members that the pack met the same way; they were all almost dead when he found them and couldn't be saved any other way. Ephraim left a diary, which Billy gave me. In it great grandpa wrote down the whole story as was told to him. He also said the he thought that the vampire doctor might have an instinct very different from the rest of his kind, an instinct to save lives rather than end them. He believed that the vamp doctor saved the lives of those he was given a chance to save, humans that wouldn't really be missed, that had no hope and he could save without exposing himself. Forks General is such a podunk little hospital that it's barely staffed so it wouldn't be hard for him to fake her death and take her away."

"It's a breach of the treaty regardless of the intentions. They were not allowed to make another vampire," Seth said.

"True," I said. "And I know I'm playing the devil's advocate right now, but the fact remains that the 4 of us and Leah had wished she could be saved, no matter the means. When I heard the vamp doctor had been her doctor after I knew the truth, I had wished he'd saved her life too. I know my sisters felt the same way, as did Sue. Hell, even Sam had wished for the same thing and Paul as well. After all she didn't deserve to die like that." I shook my head. "I guess we now know just who made that diary public. She must have told them everything and told them about it and they made sure she could be avenged before taking her away."

"But she's a newborn right? It's only been a few months since her ' _ **death**_ ', right?" Seth asked.

I nodded unsure of what he was getting at. "Yeah so?"

"What is she doing here in school? All our stories say that their young are volatile, unpredictable, and bloodthirsty. So how could she be in a room full of human kids without going ballistic?"

"Whoa, hey, Seth's right. What is she doing here? How could she be?" Quil said.

My eyes opened wide as I realized they were right. What was she doing here? We observed them from across the room, noting how they kept close, clearly they saw us as a threat and also clearly they remembered the treaty and knew Bella was a breach to it. We watched them throughout the whole class, watched as they played basketball like every other student, with no sign of a loss of control, not even when a human's neck was only a few inches from them. We watched Bella most of all, and were all shocked to see her deal with it as well as the others. The others I could understand, after all, they had years and years of experience, but Bella was only a baby right? She couldn't have been a vampire for very long because she was human the last time I saw her alive. And yet, she showed no visible sign of thirst. The only stress we could detect in her was clearly about us. Although I did notice that her coven did not stray more than 20 feet away from her and that the bronze haired male was as close to her as her shadow. At one point I saw them share a small kiss on the lips and I was floored. So not only had Bella put her abuse behind her, but I had been right in the assumption that the male that guarded her was guarding his mate. Unless of course the coven kissed each other like that, which I couldn't rule out. Still she seemed comfortable with him and the other males, but in vastly different ways. I saw at one point the big brawny male grab her by the waist and lift her up so she could dunk the ball in the basket, unnecessary knowing what they were but for appearances sake, as if she were a small child. I saw he giggle as she dunked the ball in the hoop and then high five him when he set her down. It was all very reminiscent of a brother and a sister relationship, but I saw the bronze haired male do the same and knew from the way he touched her that their relationship had to be different. After all she endured, I would have thought she would never accept the company of a male.

They left the class early and ran to the lockers to change, the males guarding the doors to the females' locker room and then they doing the same for the males, clearly wary of our presence. We had also changed quickly as soon as they were away from the locker rooms and back on the other side of the room while the coach gave some announcements before the end of class about team tryouts and such. We watched them as they were getting a little anxious the more we looked at them. When the bell rang signaling the end of the day they all ran at a fast human pace out of the gym and to the parking lot. We followed and watched them climb in to a silver Volvo and a huge black Jeep and drive of. We left too after getting into the Rabbit which we had, ironically enough parked just on the other side of their cars. It was clear that the pack needed to talk and see what we needed to do. We drove away from the school and went to the preschool to pick Claire and the twins up before going home to talk. However, we were not prepared for what we saw there. The very same Jeep and silver Volvo were parked there as well as the preschool was joined with the elementary school. I saw Bella herself along with two of the males get out and go in. Only to return about 5 minutes later. In her hands were two kids, which she carried while two others were walking along beside her and the bronze haired male carried another two kids. What sent me to the floor in shock was their scent, they were vampires or at least in part. If that wasn't enough to shock me, I heard them call Bella Mommy and the bronze haired male Daddy and ask if they could go hunt after school. It was low, too low for a human to hear, but I heard just fine. Worse was their response. "Not tonight babies. Something's come up so you'll have to make do with the blood in the fridge tonight. Maybe we can hunt in the morning before school," Bella answered. Her voice was so beautiful, like a symphony of bells, pure and lovely. They had children? Vampires could reproduce? And they were already so big? I mean some of them looked like they were in preschool but the others looked to be in elementary school. Wait, preschool, could they be classmates of Claire or my niece and nephew who were also at the preschool and my sister had dropped them off before work and I was supposed to pick up now? And wait, they were left alone with human children and obviously nothing has happened. One little boy, with long blond hair was riding on the big brawny male's shoulders and holding on to his hair.

"Uncle Emmett, can we play football when we get home?" I heard him ask.

"Sorry kid, but we have something that we need to do now. Maybe later though," the male which I gathered must be named Emmett answer. It was clear they were not going to tell the children about us, at least not yet. I saw Bella freeze as she looked up from talking with the boy on her arm and caught sight of my old Rabbit. Beside her the rest of them froze.

"Bella, what is it?" the bronze haired male asked.

"That's Jacob's car, Edward. The wolves followed us here," she said pointing discretely to my car. I decided to get out of the car and let them see me. I saw them gasp in clear fright as they held the children tighter to them and did their best to hide them from view. For now at least, I decided there were too many questions needing answers. I held my hands away from me, palms facing forward, a gesture Bella would recognize. I saw her smile a little as she placed her hand on the bronze haired male's shoulder, which I gathered was named Edward, as he was beginning to crouch in defense. "It's alright, he says they mean no harm, for now at least. The wolves are more curious and confused than anything else. I see also that they wonder how I can be here. I am a breach of the treaty, is true, but for now at least, they are willing to listen. Besides they didn't follow us here. They have kids here too, just like us." She turned to me. I was confused. How did she gather all that just from my stance? "I can read your mind Jake and know all the questions in it. There's really only one way to settle this. We talked to Carlisle on the way here and we've agreed on this. Meet us at twilight at the diner in town. It's neutral territory with plenty of witnesses. We can talk then," Bella said in a low voice which no human had a prayer of hearing but I heard just fine. I nodded at her and they resumed their way to their cars. Once they were gone Quil and I ran in to get Claire, Adam and Lilyth. Once we were all in the car, I sped us home, while Quil, Seth and Embry called everyone home to talk. We had a date tonight after all.

Once everyone was home, we sat down to talk. We told Paul, Leah, Sue and my sisters everything that went on at school today and about the date tonight. Paul was furious, normal for him, and Leah was pissed, also normal. But Sue and Rachel were able to calm them down and remind them that there were just too many things that needed to be understood before we decided on anything. After some arguing back and forth we decided as a pack to meet with the Cullens just as they asked. None of us could deny that part of us was happy that Bella was alive at least in some form and clearly very happy and cared for. When all that had happened with her father had come into the light after her death we had all felt guilty for not being able to help her, we were protectors after all, it was our nature, but we also felt guilty because we had known her, known her father and yet never knew she needed help. I felt guilty because I had been close to her, but never saw beyond Charlie's mask, not in time to help her, and Sue felt like any other mother would, like she was a child who had needed help and someone to care about her and she felt she could have given her that had she seen what was amiss with Charlie, but she had been to his house, he came over to hers, was in contact with her children, she had seen Bella and yet never knew. Treaty or not we had too many questions that needed answers so for now we would call a truce. I had wanted for Sue, my sisters and the kids to stay behind at the house, but Sue remained me of the impracticality, if they stayed behind at least one or two wolves would have to stay to stand guard over them because they could not be left undefended with vampires in the area, leaving less wolves to confront such a large coven. Even if some of them stayed behind with the children we had seen we were still outnumbered if it turned into a fight later. If they came with us, the whole pack would be there to defend them and add a note of trust to the meeting, which would go a long way in the interrogation. Reluctantly I agreed and we all quickly got dressed to head for the diner. I knew it since it was the only one in town just like in Forks. At twilight, we pulled up to the diner just as was arranged. There were a few cars there, but I recognized the Jeep and Volvo from school. Directly beside them were a black Mercedes, and black SUV. With two spaces on either side of each car. I was sure they were the cars of the other members of the family. I parked the Rabbit at the further end of the parking lot and my sister's Pathfinder parked right beside me. Together we all walked to the diner door with the wolves standing in a protective circle around our human family. Taking a deep breath I opened the door and walked inside taking my place on the lead.

 **Bella POV**

You can't imagine what a relief it was to hear the bell for the end of the day and be able to leave. It was just so tense with the wolves being in class with us. I could hear their debate over everything and knew that for now at least they were more curious and confused than aggressive, but I couldn't trust that it would remain that way as I was sure that even the smallest thing would set them off. We all ran to the cars eager to leave the school and talk to Carlisle. I was barely in the car when Edward pealed tires as we left the school. "You know I think you left your tires back there, Edward," I tried to joke and he gave me a small smile at my attempt to lightened the mood. "Seriously though, calm down baby. We both heard their thoughts and for now at least everything should be fine, they're too curious to do anything now," I reminded him.

"I know, but we both know that can change in a snap. Still that's not what worries me. The kids are also at school and there aren't any of us there to guard them if the wolves catch a whiff of them. We don't know how they'll react to that." I nodded, I already knew and even shared his concerns. I pulled out my phone and called Carlisle while Edward drove us to the school with Emmett, Rose, Alice and Jasper behind us in the Jeep.

"Dad, it's me," I said as soon as Carlisle picked up the phone.

" _ **Thank God, is everything all right?"**_ Carlisle asked me. I could detect the thinly veiled hint of fear in his voice.

"We're all fine and on our way to pick up the kids. Relax, for now at least we're in the clear. Edward and I monitored their thoughts throughout the class. They're curious about me, they do realize that I am a breach of the treaty, but they seem willing to at least hear us out before turning this into a fight. They know they are outnumbered and Jacob is being cautious. I also helps that they knew me as a human so I'm not just a random human you changed but a friend of theirs, and one that they had actually been wishing they could have saved. I even saw that all of the wolves had actually wished that you would have saved me as you had told Ephraim you saved the others and pretty much guessed how it came about. They're also very curious about me and how I am able to be in school with the others as if it were nothing. We can use that to our advantage. They were friends of mine once upon a time. I even grew up with one of them during the summers I visited Charlie and know the others as well. I grew up with Jacob and he's the true alpha. He knows me and seems at least willing to listen first before passing judgment. There's more though. It seems as though there are two packs not one. From what I gathered from their memories, there are 6 wolves here, plus 6 members of their human families. I don't know why or how, but seems the La Push pack numbers at 16 wolves, 15 males and the 1st female wolf ever. And it seems that the pack has split up. They aren't hunting us or anyone else. They just had to leave the reservation, but I couldn't see why. I think they were more or less cast out and just happened to pick the same town we moved to, to live in."

" _ **That might be something we can use to help us. That and the fact they know you and seem willing to listen. But we can't put this off for any length of time. We need to talk to them as soon as possible to clear the air and hopefully be able to make coexisting possible."**_

"I agree, Dad. Which is why I think we should do this now. Talk to the tonight while they are still willing, tomorrow at the latest. We normally go to the diner on Mondays for dinner, well we could try to invite them I suppose. If not today then tomorrow at school. The diner is neutral territory with plenty of witnesses to force both sides to try to get along and not fall into a pointless fight as would possibly happen if we met in private like somewhere in the woods."

" _ **Agreed,"**_ Carlisle said after thinking it over for a minute. _**"But don't go looking for them. If you happen to see them on the way home, we'll do it tonight. If not, invite them at school tomorrow."**_

"Okay, we'll see you at home," I said hanging up just as we pulled up to the school. Edward, Emmett and I went inside the school to grab the kids. They were excited, babbling about all the things they'd done and happily expecting the next day of school. _**Oh to be so young and care free,**_ I thought to myself. _**Wait, I am young. I'm only 17.**_ I shook my head feeling silly for sometimes forgetting my real age, but then I was a grownup now, a mother and all that. I picked Cameron and Akasha up while Edward carried Tarquin and Briseis and Caitlyn and Achilles walked along beside us and Lestat rode on Emmett's shoulders.

"Mommy, Daddy, can we go hunting after school?" Achilles asked us. I smiled at him, wanting very much to take them out, and just have some fun like we normally did, but tonight we couldn't as we had to deal with the wolves. Even if we didn't meet with them tonight, we still had much to discuss as a family. I shook my head.

"Not tonight babies. Something's come up so you'll have to make do with the blood in the fridge tonight. Maybe we can hunt in the morning before school," I answered.

"Uncle Emmett, can we play football when we get home?" I heard Lestat ask.

"Sorry kid, but we have something that we need to do now. May be later though," Emmett answered and I heard a sweet giggle from my sweet son as his uncle tickled him lightly to keep him from pouting. We were not about to tell the children about the wolves yet, they would know soon enough. I looked up from talking to Cameron about the substitute teacher he'd had today and froze as I caught sight of an old Rabbit I knew very well. Beside me I could feel my family freeze along with me though sensing my distress.

"Bella, what is it?" Edward asked.

"That's Jacob's car, Edward. The wolves followed us here," she said pointing discretely to his car. I heard Jacob decide to get out of the car and let us see him. I was frightened because the children were with us and quickly threw my shield out molding it to my family's lights before hardening it to the impenetrable barrier even as we held on to the kids tighter and tried to hide them. Though I knew it was pointless as Jacob and the others had already seen them. I breathed a small sigh of relief when I heard Jacob decide that he had too many questions needing answers so he was giving us a temporary truce. It was the best chance we could hope for. Jacob stepped away from the car a bit so we could see him clearly and held his hands away from him, palms facing forward, a gesture he knew that I would recognize. I smiled a little knowing that it meant a truce for now, it was a gesture I had seen him use when he was saying he just wanted to talk and meant no harm. I placed my hand on Edward's shoulder, as he was began to crouch in defense. "It's alright, he says they mean no harm, for now at least. The wolves are more curious and confused than anything else. I see also that they wonder how I can be here. I am a breach of the treaty, is true, but for now at least, they are willing to listen. Besides they didn't follow us here. They have kids here too, just like us," I told them to help the boys calm down. I turned to look at Jacob once more and could read the confusion in his mind as he wondered how I could possibly know that form just his stance. "I can read your mind Jake and know all the questions in it," I explained before making the invitation. "There's really only one way to settle this. We talked to Carlisle on the way here and we've agreed on this. Meet us at twilight at the diner in town. It's neutral territory with plenty of witnesses. We can talk then," I said in a low voice which no human had a prayer of hearing but knew the wolves heard just fine. He nodded in acceptance and we headed for the cars though my phone was in my hand before I had even stepped into the car. I sent a text message to Carlisle, explaining what had happened. He called me back as we were pulling away from the school.

" _ **You've got to be kidding,"**_ Carlisle said the second I answered.

"Nope, they do have kids at the school as well so we all ran into each other and I gave them the invitation like we talked about."

Carlisle sighed. _**"Alright. We'll meet you guys at home and get ready for the meeting. I'll call the diner and make sure they have a large enough booth or table for us."**_

"Make it a booth if at all possible, they're a little more private. I'm not sure whose coming though. The pack for sure but not how many others. But 12 at most besides our whole family. And yes dad, I do mean whole. We can't leave the kids behind because someone would have to stay behind with them and it would be more dangerous if we split up. Plus it'll be a more even playing field if they too choose to bring their family, and no I don't know if they will or not. Neither Alice nor I can see them," I told Carlisle before we hung up.

There was no denying the tension in the air as we arrived home. Quickly we all got ready to leave as there really was nothing more to discuss. The children were told what was going on and were understandably nervous, but trusted that we would keep them safe. And I would keep them all safe, there was no question in that, no one would be hurt tonight be they wolf or Cullen. We dressed the children in their usual dinner clothes before we got ready and then packed the kids up into the toy SUV and Vanquish and the new mini Mercedes which had been bought for the last two sets of twins. By mixing up the bigger kids with the newborns we had found that we could hide the babies as the people who saw the cars merely thought that only the older children rode in them and also we didn't let anyone too close to better hide them when in public. There was only one thing I hadn't told the family yet about what I had learned while reading the wolves minds in class. I saw that I wasn't Charlie's first victim. Jacob's sisters Rebecca and Rachel had also been abused and assaulted by him. And Rebecca had given birth to twins as a product of that, my half brother and sister, Lilyth and Adam. We had a blood tie and I knew there was nothing more important to the wolves than their families, which essentially made me their family too, Jacob's at least and he was the pack alpha. I chose not to tell them, because I wanted the wolves to believe that that fact had not seeped out of their heads, but more importantly because I was not sure it would be useful at all. I did tell Carlisle in a whisper though and he agreed with me that it would be best to keep it under wraps for now. It would probably not make much of a difference regardless. Once we were all ready, we packed the kids up into the SUV which I drove with Edward while Alice and Jasper took Edward's Volvo and Emmett and Rose went with their twins in the Jeep and Carlisle and Esme went in his Mercedes with their twins, the toy Mercedes sat in the back of Emmett's Jeep empty to be filled when we got there. We were lucky enough that the diner had a large booth that could sit all of our family together and that a table could be added to it and so the wolves could sit with us. It was also in a fairly quiet part of the diner though still in plain view of the rest of the place but with plenty of privacy to talk.

When we got to the diner, we all quickly headed inside and were quickly seated at our table, which was normally used for small parties. We settled the older children into their chairs leaving the infants hidden in the darkly tinted SUV and Mercedes which were still turned on and the air was working fine. We'd done it before so no one in town saw anything strange in that, they just thought they were toys and that we spoiled the kids too much. The garlic bread and sodas were brought in but we told the waitress that we would wait for the rest of our company before ordering. As inconspicuously as possible we mixed the blood into the liquids and the bread and gave some to the hungry children while we munched on some for appearance's sake. About 10 minutes later I heard Jacob's mind as they drove up. "They're here," I told them.

"How many?" Jasper asked.

"13. 6 wolves 7 humans. Quil, Embry, Jacob, Seth. One I recognized as Paul, and Leah the female wolf. With them are their families. Leah and Seth's mom Sue who's also a tribal elder and Jacob's two sisters Rebecca and Rachel. Plus Rebecca's twins and newborn son, and Quil's young imprint Claire, whose 3 and yes I said 3, but it's not how it sounds. There's nothing romantic about it at all, he's just her big brother now and protector. He's also her caretaker as she was orphaned a few months ago. Imprinting is compulsory for them. Like love at first sight but much more powerful and much more binding. They think of it as gravity moving and the only thing holding them to the Earth is the object of the imprint. They become whatever their imprint wants them to be. A friend, a brother or a protector. And only if the feelings of the imprint change will their feelings change to a more romantic love, otherwise they are content with however things are to be. It's how they find their soul mates, the ones they were made for. They no longer belong to themselves but to their imprint and will do anything their imprint needs or wants no matter the cost. I would compare it to a vampire's soul mate. It's basically the same binding contract." They nodded.

We watched the door as the wolves gathered outside with Jacob in the lead before coming inside. Carlisle stood and I took his arm and went with him, leaving the others covered in the shield that I had extended as soon as I caught sight of the wolves, instinctual decision and uncontrollable. It was only right that I greet the wolves with Carlisle, since this was basically my family too, my old friends at least. I could see the wary looks in their eyes as we approached them. But I could also see the happiness in Rebecca and Rachel's eyes that I stood before them miraculously alive and obviously well cared for. I smiled at my childhood companions hoping to at least put them at ease and saw their small smiles in return. The wolves stood guard over the 7 humans circling them loosely as we approached. For appearances sake we stood in easy speaking distance for a human, but still far enough away from them for safety's sake. "Welcome, we're glad you could join us," Carlisle greeted formally, directing his words to Jacob as one leader to another. "I believe you know my daughter, Bella."

I saw Jake stiffen at his use of the word daughter, but then this was my father, my true father in every way, he'd made me after all. I smiled at them, "Hi guys, why don't we go sit down so we can order dinner," I said trying to lighten the mood.

It worked, sort of. Jake smirked and replied sarcastically, "Why Bella, I didn't know the diner had blood on the menu. What'll be O- or AB+?" he whispered only loud enough for us to hear.

I smiled widely, now this was the Jake I knew, and I had a great comeback. "No, the human palate is sadly not as refined as that, I'm afraid. I guess will just have to make due with the lasagna, though I make better. What do you think dad, chicken or beef?" I looked at Carlisle who watched the exchange with confused eyes. I sent a though at him, _**"Relax, this is how Jake has always been. It's a good sign. He's comfortable enough to joke with me like he used to. Play along, it'll help settle the others too."**_

"Beef, I had the chicken lasagna last week, didn't much care for it. And yes yours is better, darling," Carlisle answered as he led us back to the table. Jake's eyes were wide along with the rest of his family's. I smiled.

"There are more things in heaven and Earth, Jake, than are dreamt of in your philosophy," I told him as we walked back. I settled in my place next to Edward with the whole family occupying the booth space on once side of the table and the wolf pack on the other side with a chair on each side of the table left empty. I felt like lines were being drawn and it wasn't at all what I wanted. I wanted us to get along, for the wolves to see us in a different light than what they were taught since the cradle. I chose to pick up Lestat and sit him on my lap. The children were plainly visible to everyone but I wanted to further emphasize their beating hearts so they would know they weren't what they appeared to be. I heard the gasps from the other side of the table when they caught a good look at my son. "Well I guess we should start with introductions," I mentioned.

Carlisle nodded and took over, he and I agreed that it would be best if I gave him and everyone the cues on what to do since I knew the wolves personally and would be able to more easily read them. "Well as you guys probably know, I'm Carlisle Cullen and this is my family. My wife Esme, my sons Emmett, Jasper and Edward, and my daughters Rosalie, Alice, and of course you know Bella," he said pointing each of us out as he said our names. "And my grandchildren, Edward and Bella's eldest children, Cameron, Caitlyn, Achilles, Briseis, Lestat, Akasha, and Tarquin." As if their eyes weren't wide enough, I was almost positive they were about to role out of their heads like in the cartoons and onto the table with the size of their eyes as Carlisle made the introductions.

"You have children?" Jake nearly choked.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "What can I say, I have a bit of a mother hen complex. But I'm not the only one. There are more children in the toy cars beside us, however in the interest of their safety, we've kept them out of the public eye so we won't be bringing them out for you to see as they are still only infants," I told Jacob noticing his look at the toys. "Some are mine, and the others belong to my sister and mother."

"A bit of a mother hen complex?" Emmett asked jokingly as he punched my shoulder gently. "No, Rose and Esme have a bit of a mother hen complex. You, baby sis, are a certified clinical case of extreme mother hen. After all you have the most kids here, 15."

I glared at him playfully; it was ploy, Emmett had taken my cue to tease me as soon as he saw it. It was the one thing we had discussed as a family on the way here. In the interest of showing the Quileute that we were more than what they thought, we'd decided to behave as the normal family we always were, plus we'd decided to be as open as possible. "Note to self, hand Emmett his ass extra crispy with mayo when we get home," I growled.

"Bring it," Emmett said. Flexing his left bicep in my face, our usual game. I squeezed his arm tightly until he winced but there was no effort on my part before pushing his arm back.

"Oh Emmett, will you ever learn. Seriously, Dad, did you drop him on his head when you changed him?" Jasper asked Carlisle. "I mean how many more times does Bella have to kick his ass before he understands that she's stronger than him?"

"Enough children. Can we have one dinner without all the arguing?" Carlisle asked.

"They wouldn't be your kids if they didn't argue, dear," Esme taunted. "Your own fault of course. Besides if I didn't hear them arguing for five minutes, but sitting quietly like perfect little children, I'd be afraid they'd been abducted by aliens and replaced with pod people or something."

"True," Emmett, Edward, Jasper, Alice, Rose and I seconded, even the kids nodded. Carlisle looked to the heavens as if begging God for patience. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of Sue, who was having a hard time controlling her laughter. I could see the gleam in her eye and saw in her mind that on the one hand she emphasized with Carlisle having teenagers herself, but on the other she knew this was a ploy. That we were doing this to show the Quileute that we were more than the monsters they thought us to be. I figured she would see through it. And it was what I wanted. She could see that this was a normal thing for us not an act. But could also see that we were allowing them to see this familiar interaction on purpose. She looked in my eyes and I saw that she also knew this was my idea, and decided to wait to cast her own judgment. Clearly seeing the little ones was enough for them to at least give what they saw the benefit of the doubt. She nudged Jake in his shoulder to remind him that it was his cue to introduce his group.

"Oh, yes, well. I'm Jacob Black, the pack alpha, and this is Leah Clearwater, my second, her brother Seth Clearwater, Paul Conner, Embry Call, and Quil Altera. Our little sister, Claire Young. Leah and Seth's mother and tribal elder Sue Clearwater. My sisters, Rebecca and Rachel Black, and Rebecca's kids Lilyth, Adam, and Baby Justin," Jake introduced everyone. It was clear he was unsure as to how to proceed so he introduced them as he would if he were just hanging out with friends and introducing his family. We all nodded at each other in greeting but it would be too much to hope for a friendly handshake, at the moment at least. A heavy silence fell on the table as each side tried to figure out what to do next. Clearly we were in for an awkward meal as two sets of mortal enemies sat down to break bred together. Thankfully the waitress came around and eased the tension a bit as she asked if we were ready to order. She was in her twenties with dark hair and anorexic thin. None of the guys paid much attention to her sad attempts at flirting, not even the wolves who were just teenage boys. We all picked up our menus and began to look them over. I saw Jake and Sue debating what they could afford as the diner was a little over priced. I decided to throw them a bone and see if they would accept the invitation in full.

"Get anything you want, after all we did invite you guys to dinner," I told Jake softly. "And before you can say it Jake, I do mean it and you know me well enough to know not to argue with me by now." Jake just rolled his eyes, but his stomach struck the deciding blow for him when it growled and I could see his acceptance of the invitation. Score one for diplomacy, besides I knew Jake well enough to know his stomach was most likely to make the decision. Carlisle ordered the veil fettuccini Alfredo for himself and Esme. I shook my head at Edward when I saw him thinking of ordering for me, knowing it wouldn't make a good impression on the wolves and also because I actually did not want to eat the same thing he was. He ordered for himself the chicken and mushroom parmesan on tortellini, while I ordered the elk stake with potatoes and the Cesar salad, Emmett and Rose got the mushroom and veil fettuccini and Alice and Jasper got the chicken parmesan on angel hair pasta while I ordered beef lasagna for the kids. The wolves all went with the man food of stake and mashed potatoes, while their family ordered similar dishes to our own. I could see in their minds that the wolves thought that they would eat our meals since we couldn't but they were in for a surprise. When dinner came and the waitress left, we girls pulled out bottles of blood from our purses and poured them on our meals as well as our mates meals and the kids' dinner. The wolves watched us in shock as we mixed the blood into the food and drinks and started to eat like it was nothing. I swallowed the food in my mouth before smiling at Jake with a little superiority. "Like I said, more things in heaven and Earth," I told him before digging back into my dinner.

Throughout the whole dinner we made it a point to behave just as we always did. I tried some of Edward's food while he tried mine, Emmett tried to put food in Alice's hair, but ended up with it stuck in his pants instead having to excuse himself to the men's room to get it out. I gave some of my food to the kids and then took the little tidbits they fed me just as we did every night. We laughed and joked with each other easily, pretty much acting as if we were here by ourselves and this was just a normal night, all the while letting the wolves, who were unusually quiet, observe us. At one point I'd excused myself from the table because one of the babies was crying and in need of a diaper change and took the SUV into the ladies room with Sue following me the whole way. Exactly as I wanted. Leah followed behind her mother, instinctually protective of her as she would be alone with a vampire, though Sue displayed little fear of that fact. Edward watched me the whole way and Alice had to very subtly grab his arm to keep him in place; she knew as well as I did that there was no danger to me in Sue or Leah, even if Leah phased in the middle of the bathroom and tried to maul me. Leah stayed outside the bathroom letting her mother talk to me alone, but still close enough to react if her mother had a need of her and also listening in for the wolf pack. I ignored her as I pulled my little Renesmee out of the car along with the diaper bag and went to the changing table at the corner to change my baby's diaper. Sue watched me for a moment before finally voicing what was on her mind. "Okay cut the act now," she said.

I looked at her over my shoulder while I cleaned Nessie, "What act Sue?"

"The happy family crap act you've been putting on all night," she said. I shook my head and finished changing Nessie's diaper and redressed her in her little pink dress before picking her up and putting her to my shoulder.

"I'm sorry you see it as act, Sue. But it's not, this is **who** we are," I told her, emphasizing the who. "It would have only been and act if we were being formal and quiet and attentive, because we're never like that; Carlisle's right to complain about it. You've known me all my life Sue, since I was as small as the baby in my hands. You used to baby-sit for me and changed my diapers like I just changed hers. You know I'm not like that, you know what I'm like. I may have changed, but the change is only physical meant to save my life from this." I pulled my long sleeve back and showed her the long scars across my wrist and arm; I really had done a number on myself, not even the change had erased this completely though it was hard to see. "From my birth father's final betrayal. I can read minds; I know you've noticed that. And I can see in yours your doubts. You knew me since I was born Sue, would you have had me die at the hands of that monster, never having known an ounce of happiness or love, never having had someone that actually cared whether I was alive or dead. Renée doesn't really care about me, she never did. I always knew that I was more of a hobby for her than her child. I was the mother that she needed, but she wasn't my mother. Obviously Charlie never cared about me either; I mean he murdered me for God's sake. He beat me, raped me, then forced me into the bathroom to try to force me to cut my own wrists and when I resisted, when I fought for my life for once he grabbed my arms and slashed them open, making sure there would be no way to stop the blood before leaving me there in the bathtub to die. Then coming back when he was sure there was no saving me though I was still alive and making it look like he found me and called for help."

"So he really did do it," Sue said. I nodded, it was true enough, it might have been my own hand, but Charlie and Phil were guiding it as it slashed my arms open.

"He murdered his own daughter and made it look like a suicide so he wouldn't be brought into question. He didn't care Sue; he was just trying to make sure nothing would point back to him. He ordered the cremation so no one would do an autopsy or view the body and see the evidence of what he did."

"Who was it that they cremated because it obviously wasn't you?"

"A runaway girl with similar features. It's unknown who she really was, her body was found and brought to the morgue, she'd been dead for a while in the river so the body was preserved enough to be able to take my place. Carlisle was hard pressed to save me and he tried all he could before choosing the last option. But I was too far-gone. I had barely a pint of blood left in my body, if that, and there was no stopping the blood, not with an injury like this," I put Renesmee back in the car and showed her both of my arms, the scars were still visible even against my ultra pale skin, forever edged in marble. "The scars are forever edged in my marble skin, the venom saved me and cured me, but it didn't erase them completely, edging my father's betrayal forever in marble. They didn't even have time to try to find my blood type and Charlie didn't know it, or so he said. It was a lie, he did know. As a child I was in a car crash with him, if you remember, during the last Christmas I spent with him in Forks when I was 4. I'd needed a transfusion and they had typed me and matched my blood to his, O+. He knew this, he had donated his blood for me, as that was one they didn't have in storage, but he lied so I couldn't be saved. All he had to do was tell them my blood type so the doctors could give me blood and take me to surgery. I might have been saved, I might not have, but he knew that if I survived it would be his head because someone would find out, so he killed me. I didn't even have enough blood to be turned. Carlisle had to grab a bag of blood to give it to me just so he could change me and it was still iffy because I could have reacted badly to it as my blood type was unknown, thankfully the venom kicked in before the side effects and saved me, but even that was no guarantee, not until I finished the change. I was watched over constantly for the duration of the transformation and Carlisle later told me that there were a few times in it where I was almost lost but he managed pull me back from the brink. And I had reason to live, born almost a year earlier though they still look like infants."

"The kids."

I nodded, "You know what Phil did to me as well, of course. I'm sure you watched the trials and know of the diary I left behind. I'm sure you also know of my grandparent's inheritance and that Renée had left me alone with Phil for months to get it." She nodded. "7 months to be precise and in that time Phil sold me away as a brood mare. At the time, I didn't know what the men that bought me were or what they were going to do. A year or so before that they and the rest of their coven went around the world targeting and attacking male vampires, stealing their seed. Male vampires are fertile so long as they meet a few criteria, while females are infertile simply because we females need to change in order to bare children as you well know, and vampires are frozen in the state from which they paced from human to inhuman, frozen and unable to change. But, well men are pretty much the same from puberty until the day they die. Some males are sterile just like some humans are. Carlisle and Edward were among the males who were attacked. Once the Romanians had what they wanted, they went to phase 2 impregnating humans. I can't tell you why they did it, why they were doing anything because even I don't know, but they gathered human girls from all races and from across the globe to impregnate them, some they bought like me, some came to them willingly, some they kidnapped. Most girls couldn't become pregnant for different reasons but 20 did, out of which only 5 give birth to healthy children though the mothers died in childbirth. I was the only mother to survive, and I birthed the most children, eightuplets, unheard of even for normal human pregnancies. They were kind to me, something I hadn't experienced before and seemed to care for me. In my time with them I learn what they were, but I never feared them; humans had hurt me all my life but the vampires were kind even if I was artificially impregnated against my will so I never had cause to fear them though they were traditional vampires. I didn't want to leave Romania but I had to go back and I left with my children with the help of a female vampire who had been charged with taking care of us. It was in Romania that I found and adopted my 7 elder children, orphaned as well until I came along and took them. Like I said, I have a mother hen complex. The female stayed with us and helped me care for my young up until the day Carlisle changed me and I went home to them."

"Who's the father?"

"Edward, for all of them. He adopted our elder children and his seed was used to breed me. His along with Carlisle's were 2 of the only five samples that produced viable offspring, which are with us too."

"You can no longer reproduce?"

I shook my head, "As far as I know, no I cannot, like every other female, but then I have enough diapers to change, thank you very much and will for decades if not centuries to come."

"What?"

I smiled at her confusion. "There are 4 kinds of hybrids," said pulling EJ out of the car to change him as well. "They're all born earlier than normal, type 1 pregnancies lasting about a month and the child will grow 8 times faster than a normal human child, type 2 pregnancies last 2-3 months and grow at the same speed as a human child, type 3 pregnancies last 4 months and they grow at about and 1/8 of the speed of a human child and type 4 pregnancies which last 5 ½ to 6 months. Those babies have no growth pattern as there have been no two type 4 hybrids that have aged even remotely the same. All that is known is that it takes centuries if not Millennia for them to grow up. My eightuplets along with 5 of my eldest children are type 4 hybrids. Carlisle's twins as well as the twins Rose adopted and the other three babies born in the experiment are type 3. My two eldest Cameron and Caitlyn are not hybrids. They are vampire children, that is children turned into vampires centuries ago." I saw the shock and disgust in her eyes. "I know, in the abstract even I think the same way. It is illegal amongst our kind to create children like those because they cannot be controlled as they are frozen in whatever stage of development they reached before the change, and unpardonable crime. However, Cameron and Caitlyn are different. They are able to control themselves. You can put a bleeding human in their hands and they will not attack or go ballistic. It is their control that saved their lives about 150 years ago when they turned themselves in to the Volturi, the royal family of our kind, right at their doorstep. For 150 years they lived with the Volturi as little more than toys for their amusement before they left them to find me, the one meant to be their mother finding their younger siblings along the way until they found their way to Romania and me while I was there."

"So basically your eldest will never grow up and the rest of your children will be in diapers for centuries?"

I nodded, "It's a good thing I don't mind changing diapers and that neither does Edward." I smiled at her. "Do you need any more information for the pack?" I asked, letting her know that I knew what she was up to.

She smiled a small half smile, "I guess you can't put anything past a mind reader can you? I feel sorry for your kids."

"Two mind readers. Edward can read minds too." I smiled.

"Like I said, poor kids. And yes, there's much more we want to know." I finished changing EJ's diaper and quickly changed the others before washing my hands.

"Then why don't we go back and finish dinner, and then we can all go talk somewhere more private? As long as the pack can agree to a peaceful conversation."

"I guess you do remember what the boys are like. Oh and that's another thing, how can you eat human food? I'd never heard that before."

"Neither did we, until after I joined the family. You see the kids weren't just searching for me before they got to Romania they were also searching for cashes of books and scrolls written by vampires in ancient times. When they came to me I also got the books and was working on translating them. It just so happened that when I came home with the children after my first hunt one of the books was fully translated and that's what we found in it. Vampires can eat human food and our bodies can use it so long as it's mixed with blood. Eventually be should also be able to phase blood out. Think of it as teaching a child to eat solid food. We both know that the way to do that is to mix it into their milk bottle so they can get accustomed to the taste while masked by the taste that they know. Eventually you can feed the baby solid food that way and he or she will like it. It's the same basic principle. It's been a few months, but vampires are slow to change so it would take a very long time and we may be able to never fully phase it out. At least I'm much more flexible still being a newborn."

"Speaking of which," she prompted as she held the door open for me and I nodded in thanks as I guided the car out of the bathroom and back to the table.

"I know. And yes, a normal newborn behaves just like your stories say, it true enough. However, I'm far from normal. Human blood is only mildly appealing to me, what an animal spells like to most vampires and animals to me smell like a human should. Cameron and Caitlyn are the same way. But even with that I should still be an out of control newborn. But I was born with the ability to do what it took Carlisle years of pain and sacrifice to learn to do. As a newborn I can completely ignore human blood. Not even if I catch a whiff of human blood while on the hunt will I go for that. And we know this because it happened on my first hunt, but I simply stayed in control and ran away from the smell," I explained as soon as we'd sat back down to desert.

"Essentially doing something no other vampire has the strength to truly do," Carlisle said beaming like a proud papa, a look I'd become very accustomed to over time and very much reveled in; I loved making my father proud of me. I smiled at daddy in return. "Not even I can easily do it, turn away from human blood in the middle of a hunt. But she no longer needs to run from the smell, she just ignores it."

"Okay, so why not let her go back to her human life if her control is so strong?" Jacob asked. We all looked at him like he'd grown as second head.

I reached over and used my fist to gently knock on the side of his head. "Knock, knock, knock. Anyone home?" I shook my head as I retracted my arm. "Jake, I know you're not used to using your brain yet, after all you're a sixteen year old boy, but do try to pay attention." Everyone cracked up at that, wolves and vampires alike. "I couldn't go back days after I'd supposedly been cremated. But even if there were a small chance I could have returned to my human life, what would I go back to? The father who murdered me? A careless, hair-brained childish mother who could never find it in herself to care about me for a moment? Or a stepfather who'd abused, beat and raped me for years and sold me off as a prostitute? I know you heard what I told Sue, she was just getting me to talk so that the pack could get information. But even if you haven't you know about the trials, and I know you've already guessed that we were the ones that aired the little evidence in the cases to put them away so they could hurt no one else." I shook my head. "There was nothing to go back to. All that mattered from that life was still with me." I pointed to my children. "And this life offered me something I had never had, a real family that actually give a damn about whether or not I lived or died." I took a bite of my chocolate cake and chocolate ice cream. "Yes there are vampires like the ones in your stories, heartless murderers who care about nothing and no one. I killed one just last weekend when he tried to go after the babies, after all. But not all of us are like that. Just like not all humans are good. Some are monsters worse than even vampires are, like Charlie and Phil and so many others. Not everything's black and white Jake, not everything in the world is good and evil. There are plenty of gray areas in between them."

"Here, here," Sue said raising her water glass in a mock toast at my words. She was in full agreement with me of course. For all of Jake's status as an alpha, he was still just a boy imbued with a lot of responsibilities, which he really wasn't ready for. It was a cruel twist of fate really. It should have at least waited until he was older and better able to shoulder his responsibilities, but that's life for you. Jacob nodded, accepting my words.

After a few minutes of loaded silence where the only sound was our spoons on our desert plates, Seth spoke up. "Bella you said you killed a vampire last weekend?"

I nodded. "They say there's no animal more dangerous than a mother protecting her young." Sue smiled nodding in agreement along with Esme and Rose. "We were playing baseball when three nomadic vampires heard us and came over. I knew them, from the children's memories, to be the very same ones who had killed Lestat, Akasha and Tarquin's birth father and from whom they and their birth mother had been running before she died of cancer when Cameron, Caitlyn, Achilles and Briseis found them. We tried to get them to leave, but they caught wind of the children's scent. One used his head and didn't go after them, but the other two tried to go after them." I was quiet for a moment debating whether or not to disclose my gifts, but in the end I decided that total honesty had to be the best policy here, we were after all walking on thin ice with the pack, and though they stood no chance at winning, I preferred to have them as friends and not enemies. "I know the Quileute have stories of vampires that have abilities beyond the norm for our kind. I'm a gifted vampire of course. You know I can read minds, what we haven't revealed as of yet it that that not my only gift, or even mine for that matter." I nodded and let Carlisle take over the explanation.

"Bella is an extremely unusual vampire in more than just her control. She's a tri-gifted vampire, meaning that she has three gifts, and all of them formidable. Most vampires, if they even have gifts, only have one. Two gifts are rare and three is unheard of until Bella came along. It makes her truly a jewel among jewels, which is both her curse and gift as it makes her a formidable opponent for anyone foolish enough to cross her, but conversely places her in extreme danger. We all heard what Bella told Sue about the Volturi, what you don't know is the reason we view them as royalty. The Volturi are comprised of a central family, three brothers plus their mates, though one of the females was murdered long ago. Aro is their leader with his powerful gift to read minds, one touch and he knows every thought your mind has ever had. But even that is not what gives them their power. Their power comes from the army of vampires they have at their disposal. Gifted vampires with formidable gifts which few would dare cross. They write our laws and they enforce them, usually through death. And they mean a threat to Bella as well as my other three gifted children because they have formidable gifts that Aro would kill to get his hands on. Edward can read minds without the need for touch, though only surface thought, Alice can see the future, and Jasper can control emotions, and of course our tri-gifted Bella. Before Bella came along we used to believe that the vampires in the army were there because they wanted to be. Now though, when Bella came along she also brought us the warning given to her by the female vampire that had taken care of her and her little ones. The vampires of the army are slaves to the Volturi family, their minds taken over and forced to obey the brothers, mostly Aro, with an almost lover-like devotion. There is one among the guard with the power to break the ties that bind people together and conversely tie them as she sees fit. She uses her gift for her lover Aro to give him his army. We give you this warning as it was given to us, and I believe you should also pass it along to your brothers. It is our law to kill werewolves on sight, it's why they are almost extinct, the true werewolves at least." He paused for a moment before deciding on full disclosure of the truth.

"For 70 years our family has kept the existence of your family a secret from the Volturi. Partly because of the treaty, but partly because we did not wish to see your tribe decimated at their hands. I've always known you were not true werewolves, but actually a rarer creature of our world, known as shape shifters. The choice of a wolf form was a coincidence brought about when the first change was made and passed down across the generations. It could have been anything else; a hawk, an eagle, a puma anything else. Some Native American tribes have legends similar to your own and I've even met a hawk shape shifter as well. Though you probably think of yourselves as werewolves, and for practical matters, there is a bit of resemblance. But you do not use the moon to change, or continue your species by biting and tuning humans like true werewolves do. Still our laws say to kill you. If the Volturi ever learn of the existence of your tribe, they will kill you all, but there is a fate worse than death, **enslavement**. Aro's a collector and his most priced possessions are his **living** treasures. You're so rare there's a good chance he will want you all too and we do not know if Chelsea's gift works on you or not. It's possible she could enslave the packs and force you all to serve Aro, and that is a fate worse than death. We're warning you, stay away from Italy which is where they live, let no one know your pack exists, keep your legends secret, if you hear news that sound vampire related near your area steer clear of them because the Volturi may come to deal with them, but most of all do nothing that might attract attention to your existence, or you may find them on your doorstep."

Alice spoke up, "I've seen visions of confrontations with the Volturi, nothing concrete, but the fact that the possibility exist is enough cause for concern. Take Carlisle's advice seriously and keep yourselves under the radar like we are. You do not want to become their pets like so many other vampires have."

I saw all of the pack shudder in revulsion and could see in their minds the resolve to stay inconspicuous for the sake of their people. Still Seth was curious about me. "Bella what do they mean by you being a tri-gifted vampire?" he asked.

I smiled, "So curious, you remind me a lot of Jake as a kid Seth, but please take my advice and use your head before you try something stupid. You wouldn't believe how much trouble he got into because he didn't use his," I laughed remembering back to those long forgotten childhood days. Rebecca and Rachel cracked up at that also remembering.

"Listen to her Seth," Rachel spoke up. "Unless, of course, you want end up with your head stuck inside a tire rim because you were wondering if it would fit."

" **HE DID WHAT?!** " the pack cried in disbelief while Sue almost chocked in laugher, remembering the incident. My family was also chocking in their mirth.

"I was five," Jake tried to defend himself.

"Yeah what about the water balloon out of a melon incident 5 years ago? I don't even know where you came up with the idea to hollow out a melon and use it as a water balloon. Only to have it fall on your own head and having to have 15 stitches to close you back up," I challenged.

"You remember that?"

"Of course I was laughing about it for a solid month and couldn't even look at you without cracking up for two weeks."

"So that's how he got that's scar five years ago. All Billy would say about it was that Jake was just being well Jake," Rebecca said laughing at her brother. The pack plus my family cracked up for a full five minutes while Jake turned 15 shades of red.

"Anyway, Seth," I started when I controlled my laughter enough to speak coherently. "What Carlisle meant by me being a tri-gifted vampire is simply that as a human, I was born with 3 latent gifts which becoming a vampire enhanced to the point of well, a super power I guess, for lack of a better term." The pack started paying attention at that. "Zelya, the female who'd taken care of me had a gift to read the latent abilities of humans and was the first to discover them, though she did say that two were not latent, but active even when I was human. I'm a double-shield, mental and physical. No physical attack or mental ability can work on me or those I guard, and I will confess now that I've been protecting the family with it since you first arrived. It's my nature to be protective and we are natural enemies after all. My second ability is that I'm a soul reader, I can read a person's soul and know everything there is to know about them in an instant. It makes what Aro does look like a parlor trick. My third gift is my most formidable and dangerous. I'm a mimic, I can copy the abilities of any gifted vampire, perhaps even humans though we've had no chance to test that as gifts are rare among humans, I come in contact with and make them my own. That and the shield had been active since I was human which is why Edward could not read my mind back then or now unless I choose to let him. And we know the mimic gift was active because I have gifts that are not my own, but copied from vampires I came in contact with growing up or from my kids, who are also gifted, while I was human. And also I have abilities I copied as a vampire."

"What abilities?" Paul asked. I looked around the room.

"Let's go somewhere else to talk, the people are trying to eavesdrop and the waitress is coming," I said finishing the last of my desert. A moment later, the girl appeared trying in vain to flirt with the guys while Carlisle paid the check. We all stood and left the diner and headed for the parking lot.

"Where do we meet you?" Jacob asked me.

"Well I'm pretty sure none of you will be comfortable coming back to our place or with us going to yours, right?" He shook his head.

I looked at Carlisle wondering where we should go. He pointed at the park a way away from the diner. "I think that's a good place to continue talking in a more private setting. It's still early enough that it wouldn't look too strange for us to go there, but late enough that there will be few people if any there," Carlisle answered.

We all nodded in agreement and got into our cars to head to the park. I had to admit that Hope really had beautiful parks. There was a great play area for the kids to go in the middle of lovely flower gardens. As soon as we stopped the car the older kids shot out to go play. I laughed as Edward and I got the mini SUV out of the SUV, leaving the empty toy vanquish behind. I watched Emmett unload the mini Mercedes and the Rose place her twins in along with Esme's twins before shutting the car up to protect them from the chill of the early evening. We drove the toys over to a grassy area beneath a tree where we set up some blankets as we watched the kids play. About a minute later, the wolves joined us and sat on the blankets we'd left open for them, Claire, Lilyth and Adam looking longingly at the play area where my kids were having fun. "It'll be fine if they want to go and play with the kids. They won't get hurt," I told them, trying to throw the kids a bone. Adam, Lilyth and Claire looked up pleadingly at their elders Quil and Rebecca, who nodded their heads in agreement and let them go play. The three ran off to the swings where we watched Cameron and Caitlyn help them get situated before giving them a push so they could swing. If they could get along, why couldn't we? "I suppose you still want the rest of the answer, right?" I asked after we'd watched the kids play for a moment.

Jacob nodded, "That would be nice."

I thought for a moment about the answer. "Jake, Rachel, Rebecca, were you ever told that Charlie had a sister?" I asked suddenly. They shook their heads no.

Sue, however, nodded. "Marlene who died some years ago, but what does she have to do with this?"

"Plenty as she was the first vampire I ever came in contact with. My Gran left me her jewelry box, which I took from Charlie's house. In it I found a letter from her where I found out that Aunt Marlene was killed by my Gramps who she claimed was sick as Charlie was sick. But Aunt Marlene had friends who were vampires and she had always told my Gran to call them if something happened to her. She did and they came and took her away. Years later, Marlene contacted her mother and asked to meet me. Gran didn't know what she'd become but was trilled to know what happened to her daughter, though she couldn't help but notice that time seemed to have stopped for them as they were the same as she remembered over a decade or so after the last time she'd seen them. It was the one and only contact I had with her. I was about a year old at the time. In the jewelry box I found the picture Gran had taken of my aunt holding me while sitting beside her friends. She was a vampire. As I grew up I must have come into contact with other vampires, unknowingly. Because I have gifts I've copied with no idea where they came from. Like I said before, all 15 of my children are gifted and I've copied their abilities along with my family's. From Edward, E.J. and Lilly our son and daughter, I copied the mind reading, from my first born Renesmee I copied Thought projection, from Elizabeth & Andy I got Telepathy, from CJ and Melody I copied Telekinesis, from my baby Aurora I copied the ability to blow things up, from Cameron I copied Teleportation, from Caitlyn came an Invisibility shield, from my little Lestat I got Weather Manipulation, from the twins Akasha and Tarquin I copied Flight, from my little Achilles I copied Mind Control, and from Briseis I copied Past reading and a Fashion Power, which basically means that I can create clothing out of thin air. I've also copied Alice and Jasper's gifts as well. And the vampires last weekend had gifts, the female had a talent of Evasion

which allowed her to escape from anything that threatened her no matter the odds and the male's gift was that of a tracker, he could hunt his prey and never really loose them. But there are two powers I have no idea where they came from. As siren voice and a gift to control the 4 elements of nature, earth, fire, wind and water. No illusion, actual physical manipulation."

"No way Bella, you're pulling our legs," Quil said and I turned my eyes to him. To simply prove my point I made a small ball of fire appear in my open palm right in front of them. They gasped their eyes huge.

"I'm sure you know what this does to a vampire. It's not hurting me because I control it. I called it and you saw there was nothing in my hand." I dropped it to the ground and let it burn the grass for a moment before I made a tiny black cloud appear out of thin air and rain down on it to put it out leaving the burnt grass.

"No way," was all they could say. I let them absorb my little display for a while as I watched the kids playing. They'd moved to the slide harmoniously playing together as if there was nothing in the world other than that. After a few minutes Jake voiced he question on all their minds, "If you can do that, fire can't destroy you can it?"

I shook my head. It was the question I dreaded. But I answered as truthfully as I could. "No. Neither me nor anyone I guard. Perhaps if I were torn to pieces, but no one can get close enough to even try. We also believe that vampire gifts are not the only thing I can copy. We believe I can also copy the fighting prowess of vampires as well as their strength. Reason being that I'm a naturally gifted fighter, but with very little in the way of experience or training, yet I can defeat experienced fighters without problem, plus my strength has not shown signs of decreasing though I'm a little over 6 months old and had very little blood in my body to begin with. In fact it seems to be increasing."

"Making you the most powerful vampire in the world," Jake finished. I nodded in agreement. "More or less indestructible, strong, gifted and with an array of vampire powers that put comic book so shame? Yeah, I can see why you're the jewel amongst jewels, why that guy Aro would kill to have you. I'm guessing you make pretty much make his entire army look like toddlers."

"More or less," Emmett answered. "But it gets worse, she can still copy gifts and now has control over what she copies so if she came in contact with the Volturi, she would own all their gifts. And with the knowledge of how to use them since we think that's the other thing she can copy given how easily she could put them to use. As if she'd been born using them." Then his eyes widened as if he'd just had a thought. "Hey Bells, did you ever copy Eleazar or Kate's gifts?"

I shook my head, "No, I decided not to. The mimic ability lets me read the abilities so I can determine if I want to copy them, which is Eleazar's gift in a nutshell. Kate's gift, though strong is actually dangerous. She has to touch in order to use it and getting that close could be a disaster. Besides no one can get through my shield."

"Oh contraire mon paire. The eightuplets can. It's their shared ability, remember?" Edward asked. "After all, my little babies can get into that Fort Knox head of yours to read your mind or show you their thoughts."

"Oh, yeah, I'd forgotten about that, along with the fact that the eightuplets can share gifts between them. But I wonder if they're actually abilities or just a genetic link."

"Abilities," Carlisle said. "Eleazar had told me about the gifts 6 months ago but I forgot in the wake of everything that happened after that. The letter did say that the kids had the power to get through both of your shields, the flipside of your shielding ability, which Eleazar confirmed but has no name for. But sharing gifts I think came from the womb. I mean if human twins share some sort of mental link forged on the womb, why wouldn't the babies." I nodded and made a mental note to check that with my gift when I had more time.

We continued to talk for about another hour, trading information on both sides. The wolves told us more about how their abilities worked and we told them more about our family, our histories and everything while they told us bout their family, about the split and why they'd move here. While we talked, I watched the kids at play. Lilyth, Adam and Claire were perfectly at ease playing with my kids, although they were natural enemies. They were innocent to the tension between their elders, which had not gone away, despite having been sitting together talking since twilight. I could tell that my kids were controlling their strength when playing with them so as not to hurt them accidentally but the lot of them were having fun. I looked at baby Justin, fast asleep in his carrier and bundled up against the cold, Rebecca was busy talking with Alice about clothes and hadn't noticed her baby was asleep. I looked at my watch and noticed it was starting to get late, but my attention was caught by the kids playing once more. Adam had tripped over a rock, but Lestat had caught him before he could hurt himself, with a laugh the two boys continued to play. Why couldn't we be like that? "Bella, love," Edward's voice intruded into my thoughts as he placed his hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong?"

I shook my head, "Nothing, just thinking," I said aware that everyone was now looking at me. I caught from their thoughts that Edward had been trying to get my attention for a few minutes.

"I've never known you to space out like that, Bella," Jacob said. I nodded and decided to let them into what I was thinking. I pointed at the kids playing.

"How come they can do that and we can't?" I asked.

"What, you want to go play on the slide Bella? I think you're a little too old for that," Emmett said laughing.

"First off, no dumb ass, and second I do it all the time at the house with the kids. That's not what I meant. What I meant is why couldn't the wolves and us get along like they can? They are mortal enemies after all. Three human kids with the wolf gene in their make up playing with 2 kid vampires and 5 half vampires. But they don't see that. They see a playmate and someone to have fun with, nothing more, nothing less. And they've been playing for over an hour together like they were born doing it. Lestat even caught Adam when he tripped before he could fall and hurt himself, like a friend would. And yet, we who are older and supposed to set an example for them, can barely stand to sit together and talk."

"We're enemies but they're too young to understand," Paul said.

"Are they, Paul? You realize of course that Cameron and Caitlyn are both somewhere between 200 and 300 years old possibly more. They're not really children even if they behave that way. Lestat's 26 years old. Achilles and Briseis are 150 years old. The only ones there who are children are Akasha and Tarquin, who are almost 7, for our side and your kids. Yes, the eldest behave like children, but they are also far more mature and understanding, reflecting their true ages. Plus they have instincts too; they recognize each other for what they are just as well as we can. And yet they set that aside and play together like friends, more interested in who they are and not what they are." Everyone was silent as they mulled my words. So many years of hatred and bad blood there was between us. "Why do we hate each other if they don't?" I asked after a few minutes.

"We're different?" Sue said but it sounded more like a question.

"Are we? We look similar. To the people walking by the park they see us as a group of people sitting and talking while the kids play nearby. They can't see differences." I looked at Jacob, Rachel, Rebecca and Sue. "The 4 of you have known me my whole life. Jacob, Rachel, Rebecca and I grew up together when I spent time in Forks with Charlie. Besides the eyes, pale skin, and scent, do I really look that different than the Bella you've known your whole lives?"

"No, you're still the same old Bella who played in the mud with me as a child to me," Rachel said.

"Then why do we hate each other?"

Why did we indeed, was the question running through everyone's minds. I left it at that, letting everyone come to their own conclusions and think things through as I got up and went to retrieve the kids from the playground. Groans ensued from the kids who were having fun together when I came. "Five more minutes, mom," my kids whined clasping their hands together in supplication with the three Quileute kids also doing the same. I had to laugh at that.

"Sorry guys, but it's late. It's time to go." More groans ensued as the kids, both mine and their new little friends, followed me back to the blankets where the grownups and teenagers were getting up, realizing the time. It was almost 9 pm and bedtime for the little ones. We all said goodbye as we headed back to the cars to go to our respective homes. And I smiled a small, pleased smile at my night's work. It wasn't an end to the animosity between the wolves and the Cullens, but it was a first step. The wolves had accepted our olive branch by meeting us for dinner and we in turn had shown them that there was more to things than the small minded views they were shown since the cradle. Edward noticed my little smile as we drove home and knew what it was about.

"Bella the pacifist," he shook his head placing a kiss on my cheek. "You do realize that one dinner's not going to change things right?"

"No, but it's an olive branch. And you know I was right back there," I pointed at the kids who'd fallen fast sleep as soon as they were in the car while Cameron and Caitlyn played videogames together. "If they can do it, why can't we at least try to get along?"

"Like father, like daughter," Edward said laughing. "Yes, of course you're right, but there's still a long road to travel."

"I don't deny that. But I grew up with the Quileute, and know their stories because Rebecca and Rachel and Jacob told them to me growing up. They all have at least a grain of truth to it, but most are a product of fearful imaginations and passed down traditions of hatred. Once upon a time it wasn't instinctual for wolves to automatically hate vampires, and I don't think it is now, at least not those that do not harm humans. I think it has more to do with them being taught since the cradle to believe in us as evil and be blinded by that hatred to the many gray areas in between."

"Like father, like daughter," Edward repeated. "But I'm wondering if you just want to get a chance to know your half siblings?"

"I can't deny that there's a part of me that wants that very much. But there's more to it than that. There really is no real reason for both the wolves and us to not be able to truly coexist peacefully instead of having that restrictive treaty. Which we both know is broken now since I was made a vampire. It's also for the safety of both sides, as neither truly wants a war, teenage hormones aside. It'll be a long road, no doubt about it, but don't they say that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a first step?"

"When exactly did you become so wise? I thought you were 17," Edward joked kissing my cheek.

"I'm a mom, it's in the job description. Ask Esme if you don't believe me. I also have to be a referee, peacekeeper, playmate, nurse, short order cook, teacher, diaper changer, disciplinarian, best fiend, toy factory, schedule keeper, storyteller, chuffer, party planner, and about 70,000 other thing I can't quite remember. If I got paid by the hour, considering that it's 24/7 365 day a year job, with no vacations, sick days or breaks what so ever I'd be richer than Mythos in a week. And I'm also 18 now, supposedly. Well in a few days anyway as my birthday's on September 13."

"Giving me a hint, love?"

"No you did mention my age after all. I've never really liked all the attention on my birthday." Edward shook his head and kissed my cheek again, plans already floating in his head. I sighed and just relaxed into my seat as we turned into our driveway.

 **Chapter 15: Christmas Surprise**

 **Bella POV**

School was an awkward affair for the first few weeks after that dinner. We took over a larger lunch table so that the wolves could sit with us, and we invited them to join us at lunch; not that hard as there were few tables where they wouldn't have to sit with humans that might notice something strange or just wouldn't plain annoy them. It was a tense affair at the lunch table, but at least we were all trying to make an effort. Clearly what I had said after dinner had caused everyone to at least think about things. Two points for diplomacy. And we even tried to play sports together as a team during Gym, the one class we had together; a good thing too since I'd noticed that the wolves seemed to have a hard time staying inside human parameters during Gym. Clearly they needed to be taught how to act human in public, which wasn't that surprising since they had been sheltered inside La Push where they didn't need to hide much. I spoke with Jake about it after he'd accidentally hit a ball a little too hard and left a small divot on the floor. No one noticed, but it underscored the point for me. I could tell he was embarrassed about it, but I told him there was nothing to be embarrassed about, I too had had to practice how to stay within human parameters before I started school, and still needed to practice a bit more on the subject which was one of the main reasons why I had all my classes with at least one of my family members. Edward and I offered to help them learn and Jake gratefully accepted the offer on behalf of the pack, for fear of trouble now that they were outside of La Push. From then on, we met after school in a field a ways from the town where we'd set up the Gym equipment that I used to practice with and taught them how to play gently so that they could remain inside the parameters of human capability. Like me, they found it very restrictive, however, we told them that we also played games within supernatural parameters, it's just that we did it out of public view and when we had something that could mask the sound of our play. The weekend after the dinner I made another huge storm appear and we invited the wolf pack to come play sports with us, baseball and football. I have to admit we all had a blast. It was fun playing together and being able to blow off some steam, and the wolves had no trouble playing the vampire versions of the games that we normally played. It went a long ways for helping with relations with the pack.

About a month later, Jacob told me that they had spoken with their pack brothers, who were definitely not thrilled knowing everything that had been going on, and neither were the elders. However, there was nothing that they could do about it as Jacob and Carlisle had come to an agreement. They weren't happy that the Cullens had broken the treaty by changing me, but it was a catch-22 since they also had not wanted me to die and had even expressed wishes for Carlisle to do just what he did. With a little bit of coxing by me throughout that first month, we were able to secure a new treaty with the Quileute, which was a treaty of true coexistence, and perhaps awkward friendship. For the wolves' side it was the same as before, they were not to reveal us to humans so long as we stuck to the treaty. For us, we were not allowed to create another vampire unless it was a life-saving measure and we had a living will, or there were extenuating circumstances like what happened with me, that prevent that living will from being given. The hybrids had been a bit of an issue, but they couldn't really be called vampires so they're no restriction on them, though they were definitely a source of discomfort for the tribe. We would still not be allowed onto the rez if we were in the area, unless we had a wolf escort to ensure the safety of the people, but this was only for the Cullen family, no other vampire was allowed in. Also while the family was gone from the area, the treaty line is essentially dissolved and the wolves could patrol the entire region, but when the family was in the area, we would have to come up with a schedule to prevent any accidents. And the Cullens were to inform the elders of when they were moving back into the area and when we were leaving so that the pack would know how to proceed. But that was for the Olympic peninsula.

The pack here had an even less restrictive treaty. We were basically going to try to live together like friends. There were no lines dividing us, the entire region was basically neutral territory for us and the Black pack. Although we Cullens unofficially watched out for the pack to help them keep their secret and teach them the art of being a supernatural creature living inconspicuously among humans. On sunny days, the wolves stayed out of school with us, as they were still learning how to stay under the radar, and we helped them create a public story to hide behind of to prevent problems. Alice had even taught the wolves how to play the market to get more money from investing in it, important since they would be immortal until they could give up their wolves completely, while Jasper and Edward taught them how to get their hands on fake identity papers, or make them themselves if needed. Sue had been reluctant with that notion, but I reminded her that eternity was a very long time and establishing new identities required a lot of money and a paper trail if you were going to live among humans. They were fortunate that they could still use their original identities, but they would not age and so, like us, they had a time limit before they needed a new identity. And some wolves would definitely be immortal because their imprints were immortal, and this was not something I was happy about. And why wasn't I happy with the notion that at least some of my friends would be with us for eternity and found immortal loves, you may ask? Because they had imprinted on my babies!

About 3 weeks after the dinner, we were all gathered at the house. It was a sunny day and we couldn't go to school. True, Lestat and I could change the weather, but it was best if we didn't use that power too much to not attract suspicion. We were all at the main lodge and the kids were napping in the nursery. Edward, Carlisle, Jacob and I were talking about how to make a story for the wolves to hide them and what would work best while sitting in Carlisle's study. Everyone else was moving around all over the house engaged in different activities to pass the time. While Edward, Carlisle and I were talking with him, my sweet little baby daughter Renesmee, who now looked to be at most three months though she was a little over 2 years old, woke up from her nap early and crawled out of her room and to the study where we were, looking for her Mommy and Daddy. Next thing we know, wham, bam, boom. Jacob imprinted on her. I saw it happened and it took the whole family to restrain me from killing him on the spot, mostly because they stood in the way, though Edward **really** wanted to do it too. In the end the only thing that saved him was that Renesmee didn't want him to be hurt and I couldn't hurt her. I knew what imprinting was — that the wolf becomes whatever the object of the imprint needs or wants them to be and that the feelings would only change if she wants the change and knew from his mind that there wasn't the least romantic thought about my baby daughter — but it did nothing to help me accept it.

I took pleasure in the knowledge that Renesmee would take centuries if not more to grow up to a point where any of that was even a remote possibility. And took pleasure in informing Jacob of this little quirk of my daughter's existence as well as setting down the law, because I was not about to allow anything even remotely inappropriate and wasn't about to let him steal her childhood, however long it lasted. Jacob's only allowed to see her occasionally, mainly when she asks to see him, and if their relationship ever went further than we were willing to allow, he would be dead very quickly and **VERY** painfully and with his manhood gone, and as I could see the future and read both their minds, I would know everything that went on. We also made it clear that he was not ever going to get in between her relationship with her parents and her family, that had to be her primary relationship for it is the relationship that would shape who she was as a person, that his relationship to her was secondary at best to her relationship with her family, and that doing anything that went against this was a death sentence. Also if he ever wanted to have a romantic relationship with her, we would have to approve, no approval and he would die, and a marriage, if that ever came to pass, would not happen without our consent, even if it took a millennia or more for us to give that consent. Jacob agreed to this, though it caused him pain to be away from my Nessie, but he knew that he was in a very delicate situation and that it did not pay to anger me, especially since he knew I could and would make certain Renesmee would never want anything to do with him if he didn't agree, not to mention torture him to death.

I know it was harsh, but this was my baby daughter we were talking about, and I would do anything to protect her. Jake's pack and the La Push pack had a long laugh about the situation though they were uncomfortable with it. Even teasing him about being a nanny for centuries while Quil would only have to wait a few decades for Claire to grow up. However, Jake was not the only wolf to imprint on one of my children. Poor sweet Seth imprinted on my Akasha about a week after Jake imprinted on Renesmee. I was not happy with that either and neither was Edward and he got the exact same treatment as Jake with the exact same rules. I had wondered how this didn't happen at the dinner or any of the other times the kids were around the wolves, but Seth explained that he'd just never really looked at Akasha until she had happened to drop her doll down the stairs as she'd been running down for lunch and he'd picked it up and given it to her. And as if this weren't enough, Embry also imprinted on one of the Cullen kids, Kayla, a little before Christmas when he finally got a good look at her. I will admit that Carlisle and Esme were far nicer than I was with Seth and Jake, though not by much, especially as Carlisle started imagining how to kill him and I'll be damned if it didn't scare me when he did particularly as I was pretty sure he would have done it. He too got the same rules as his buddies with the same threat of death and bodily harm. And with that there were now three wolves that had imprinted on the Cullen children which made us family and it also made the other pack have to back off because their most absolute law was that a wolf could not harm the object of another wolf's imprinting. And if you counted the fact that 5 out of the 6 wolves in the Black pack had imprinted plus Jared in the La Push pack had also joined the ranks of the imprinted with his Kim, maybe the imprinting wasn't as rare as they thought it was. Leah had actually become worried, considering most of her pack had imprinted on Cullens. She made it a point after Seth imprinted to take a good long look at all the Cullen young boys, and even the girls, to make certain she wouldn't imprint on one, and thank the good Lord above that she didn't because if she'd imprinted on one of them, I would have killed her.

Esme though was thrilled about one thing. She had a house packed with kids. She'd basically adopted the wolves as her own. Sheesh and I thought I had a mother hen complex? Even Carlisle was happy with it, though it did irk him that there were more teenagers in the house and that, like all of his vampire children, they didn't respect him and always made fun of him. We love him of course but we also did like to tease him, after all, all kids know that daddy means fun and mommy means business. Christmas certainly was a production this year in the Cullen household. Good thing we had a very big house, plus several other homes because the La Push pack, their families, and the family members of the Black pack that hadn't moved up to Alaska came over for the holidays. They stayed at the wolves' house of course, but the fact of the matter was that since the wolves spent most of their time with us at the resort enjoying all the amenities, so did they. And of course the Denalis joined us as well for the holidays and we'd been surprised that Laurent was still with them and that his eyes really were changing colors. We were also surprised and thrilled to find out that he and Irina had become close and from her mind at least, I picked up signs that they may even become mates, but it was a bit premature, and Laurent wasn't giving any indication to this fact. And there was someone else with them as well. A vampire I recognized. His name was Garrett. He was a nomad who lived in the area of Pennsylvania. Kate had met him in Massachusetts when she'd gone there on some business and happened to run into him. He was an adventurer and he'd found her gift intriguing after seeing her use it when he'd happened upon her being attacked by a wild young newborn female as she'd been walking in the streets late at night. He'd helped her destroy the newborn and had gotten to talking with her. He'd even asked that she'd let him feel her gift, really too curious about it. She'd knocked him flat on his ass. They started seeing each other while she was there and he'd become curious about her unusual lifestyle. When she was due to leave Massachusetts, he asked if he could join her, wanting to give her lifestyle a shot. I could see in their minds that, though they still had a ways to go, Garrett had found his family and his mate. Plus he seemed to really like our lifestyle, particularly because it was so challenging and always would present some form of challenge.

However, the reason I recognized him was simple. He was the male in the picture of my aunt and her friends holding me as a baby. He and I got to talking and I found out that he had met my aunt when Zelya had brought her home after meeting her one day and they'd become friends. When she was injured Zelya had asked him to go with her to get her and had been the one to turn her. He'd met Zelya when he was a newborn since she'd been a friend of his maker and they had traveled together for a while before meeting my aunt. After changing my aunt Zelya and he had separated and Zelya and my aunt had gone to Romania. He said that they had briefly reunited about a decade later and that when I was born my aunt had wanted to see me despite the fact that she really shouldn't, not because of her control, but because she had to cut off all contact with her human life when she became a vampire as a part of the rules. They hadn't thought anything of it and had accompanied her when she'd contacted her mother and set up the meeting. It was the last contact she ever had with her human family. Garrett told me that they'd gone their separate ways and he hadn't seen her or Zelya again. He knew Zelya'd gone back to Romania and Marlene had become a nomad in Europe. I spoke to Edward about it later and he thought that perhaps my aunt hadn't wanted to cut all her ties, but had kept an eye on her human family; it wasn't that uncommon, Emmett had done it as well and still kept tabs on his great nieces and nephews. He thought that when she heard that I'd been born she'd worried about me because of her history and had wanted to at least see me and smell me when I was old enough for the new blood scent to be lost so that she would know me and be able to keep an eye on me more easily. I argued that I doubted that she would have allowed any of what happened to me to happen, but Edward reminded me that unless my aunt returned to her human life, which she couldn't, she would have been forced to watch me from a distance and could easily loose me as I grew older, particularly since I had told him that my mother and I had only settled in Phoenix when I was 5 and had spent the years before that living in different places after she left my father with me.

Something like that could easily allow my aunt to loose me. He even told me that Emmett had actually lost track of 2 of his brothers and had no idea what happened to them for many years, only knowing where his youngest brother and his sisters were because they had stayed in their home town. It took years for him to track them down and found one brother had died in a factory fire and the other had joined the army and was stationed in Europe for a while before returning home with his wife and 3 kids and settling down in New York. Unless I stayed in Forks, my aunt could easily loose me and may even now be trying to find me. Or, if she'd heard of the trial, probably believed me dead like everyone else. I had to agree with that. Still, I would admit that I was getting more and more curious about my mysterious vampire aunt and wondering who she was and where she was. I spoke with him about it and he told me that if I really wanted to, we could try to track her down. I was undecided on that front, but I told him I'd think it over and let him know what I decided. It wasn't that I didn't want to know her, over the months since I found it, that mysterious picture had me wondering about the aunt I never got the chance to know, but I had to take the safety of my family and my children into consideration as this was an unknown vampire and we had to keep a low profile so as to not attract the attention of the Volturi and searching for her might attract attention, especially if she was in Europe still. I decided to put it out of my mind and just enjoy the holidays; I had all of eternity to decide after all.

The day before Christmas, the lot of us decided to go out and have some fun together, so we spent the morning in a snow ball fight, in which poor Carlisle ended up becoming the favorite target of the snowball snipers, though he gave as good as he got. After the snow ball fight we all decided to split up for a while, the wolves decided to go for a run in the mountains as it had been a while since they had been out to run just for fun and took their human families with them. And we Cullens decided to hunt at the nearby animal preserve a ways south from our resort which offered a slight change in diet since they had an over population of snow leopards, which I'd become rather fond of along with mountain lion. Once we were at the preserve we decided to split up and Edward and I took our kids and headed into the preserve while everyone else split up into pairs and went to find something to eat. Our hunt was uneventful, the kids had fun watching us hunt and the older ones even had a blast taking down animals themselves under our watchful guide; they were still a little small to take down predators so we only allowed them to go after deer and we hunted the predators for them while they watched. When the sun was beginning to set, we decided it was time to meet back up with the rest of the family, but we were in for a huge surprise…

 **Alice POV**

Jazz and I left our family and went to hunt near the mountains. It was nice to be able to have some alone time with my mate but I found myself lost in wistful thoughts. "Penny for your thoughts?" Jazz asked me as he heard me sigh again.

I looked over at my handsome mate and smiled a small smile as I took his hand and led him over to sit on an outcropping of rock partially covered in snow, brushing the snow off before sitting down. "It's nothing Jazz, I was just thinking," I told him, hoping he would leave it at that, which of course he wouldn't.

"What of?" he pressed and I sighed again.

I shook my head, "You know what of, Jazz." It was his turn to sigh. He did know. Ever since Rose and Emmett and Carlisle and Esme had their twins I had begun to wonder what that would be like. And when Bella came along and she had Edward's babies along with her other 7 kids I had begun to want a baby of my own, and became a little jealous. Don't get me wrong, I was trilled for them, but I guess you could say I kind of felt left out; particularly after we'd moved up here and Jazz and I had gotten our cottage, but there was no one else in it except just the two of us. Rose and Emmett and Bella and Edward had their kids living with them, but in our small cottage, it was just Jazz and me. I had often observed my sisters and mother with their younglings and couldn't really help but feel a little jealous as I observed their loving interactions. I also knew that Jazz felt the same way as me; we were the only childless couple in a family full of children. Wordlessly he pulled me into his arms for a hug and there were no other words he'd need say, his hug said it all… At least we had each other and always would is what I felt like his hug told me. We held each other for a little while longer before taking off on the hunt once more. We caught a pair of cougars that had been resting together and feasted upon them before we kept on running to find some more.

About an hour and a half before sunset, which was when we'd all agreed to meet back up to head back home, Jazz and I finished our hunt and were just walking around the preserve in no real hurry yet to rejoin the family as we still had some time. Out of nowhere I heard a strange sound and turned my head suddenly, freezing in place as I listened. "What?" Jazz asked me.

"Did you hear that?" I asked

"Hear what, Alice?"

"I'm not sure, I thought I heard something," I told him.

He shook his head, "It was probably just the wind or some animal, honey. I didn't hear anything." I nodded in agreement and we continued walking. About 5 minutes later, Jazz and I happened upon a cave, normally we would have taken no notice of it, except that I heard that sound again and this time it was distinct enough for me to recognize it. A cry. A baby's cry. Also this time, Jazz heard it as well. "It's probably just one of the kids, the others shouldn't be that far away," Jazz said but his voice was unconvinced. I shook my head; I knew all their cries and that had not sounded like one of them. A light breeze blew at me from out of the cave and in it was a smell. My head jerked to the side and I looked into the cave as I caught the scent in the air. Jazz too had caught the scent. Blood, human blood, and something else as well. Jazz eyes had gone dark with thirst but I was pleased to see that he was under control. However, the second scent had made me curious. The blood smelled old; maybe a couple of days old, but the other smell was sweet and fresh. Once again I heard the baby crying and this time it was a loud and distinct sound of protest, possibly even pain. And more importantly, it was a cry I did not recognize. I don't really know why I did it, but something in me told me to go find the source of the cry. Without a thought more I started running inside the cave with Jazz staying outside because of the blood. The cave was terribly dark, but that was no problem for my vampire eyesight. I ran deeper and deeper into the cave which I noticed was actually an old mine shaft following the cry I heard taking many turns that took me deep into the mountain. It took a few minutes, particularly as the eco of the cry was very distracting an made it difficult to follow it, though the smell of the blood ended up being my best lead, but I found the source of the cry. As I took the last turn I found myself at a dead end where a rockslide had sealed off the tunnel. There were some old mining equipment laying around, but most curious of all was the remains of a recent campfire as well as some backpacking equipment. Clearly someone had used this shaft as a campsite maybe a couple of days ago. Beside the campfire there was a body. A young woman with blond hair lay crumpled in a heap on the ground, dead. She'd been dead for some time, judging by the rotten smell I detected. The wailing cry was coming from somewhere in this place, but the eco made it hard to pinpoint from where so I started searching for it, but I didn't know why.

As I happened to pass by the body, I noticed what appeared to be a gunshot wound on her chest, and also noticed that her pants were stained in blood from the waist down. Curious I bent over to look over the body. It was clear the gunshot was what killed her as it went straight to her heart judging by the position of the hole. But her lower body seemed as though it had gone through something traumatic. I was no doctor, but it looked to me like she'd either been raped or given birth maybe. While I was examining the body, without touching or moving it Jazz made his way to me. I had seen a vision of him becoming concerned about what was taking me so long and had come in to check on me. "She's dead. Looks like a gunshot wound. Probably two days ago," I told him. He nodded.

"What's making that cry though?" I shrugged, I had no answer. The cry had gotten louder and more insistent just after he'd come in. And he helped me search the rather large cave. As I looked over the wall of rocks I noticed an old mining cart partially protruding from the rocks. I bent down to examine it.

"Jazz, over here," I suddenly cried. When I had reached my hand into it I touched a piece of cloth and it moved. I couldn't reach any further in though to grab whatever that was so I stood up and got out of the way to let Jazz try to grab it. "There's something alive in there. I felt a piece of cloth and something moving. I think that's what making the cry." He nodded and lay down on the floor to wiggle his way in closer to the cart and reach his arm inside.

"There's definitely something in here alright," he said as he strained his arm far in trying to grab whatever it was. "And whatever it is it's alive and someone, possibly the woman shoved it in here pretty far in an obvious effort to hide it." He strained his arm further. "Got it," he suddenly cried after he'd wiggled his shoulders into the small space. "Oh my god," I heard him. "Help me out Alice," he asked and I grabbed his ankle to pull him free. As he slid out, a tiny crying bundle wrapped in a filthy cloth came out with him. "It's a baby," he said. I took the baby from his hands and unwrapped it from the cloth throwing it aside, as he ran out of the cave with one of the buckets found among the camping gear returning a few moments later with some water from the underground spring in one of the other chambers. It wasn't warm, but it was all we had. I had collected some of the dry wood from around the campsite and used it to start another campfire a ways away from the old one and the dead mother so I could give this baby, which I saw was a little girl, some warmth. Using the campfire, we quickly warmed the water and cleaned her off, while Jazz called Carlisle to come help us out. The baby was wailing in abject misery and I had no idea how to comfort her. I was pretty sure she was hungry but had no food for her. I could only hold her gently against me while I sat beside the fire after cleaning her off. Carlisle suggested giving her some water to help rehydrate her as who knew how long she'd gone without food, but we had none that was safe for her to drink. Jazz searched the mess of camping equipment littered across the camp finding, thankfully, an unopened gallon of water, which Carlisle said would be fine and better yet, a baby bottle and a can of Enfamil formula. Clearly the woman had prepared herself to care for this baby. He also found a notebook, but we set that aside. Quickly we used the now boiling water to sanitize the bottle and prepared the milk with the gallon of water. We warmed it up in another pot of water before giving it to her, and she frantically suckled from the bottle I held for her. Jazz ran outside to wait for Carlisle and lead him back in here.

While I waited for my father to arrive, I took a look at the little girl I held in my hands. She was lovely. Her hair was a dark honey blonde and she had sky blue eyes. She was warm, bordering on hot actually which raised a red flag in my head as I worried she had a fever. But as I studied her more closely I realized what was really going on. Her skin was pale, like backlit alabaster, but her cheeks had a flush of blood. She was also hard, substantial, her skin felt like marble. And her scent sparked no thirst within me as a human child would. With a start I realized what she was… a hybrid. A newborn hybrid judging by her umbilical cord. Carlisle and Jasper ran into the room then and saw my stunned expression. I turn quickly to my mate. "Go find a deer or something Jazz and bring back the blood," I said as soon as I caught sight of him.

That stopped them in their tracks. "What?" they both said at the same time.

"She's a hybrid," I said. Carlisle eyes widened as he ran to me and took the baby from me. He quickly examined her, noticing the same markers I'd seen myself and agreeing with my assessment. Jazz quickly ran out of the cave to hunt while Carlisle examined her more thoroughly.

"Where's Esme?" I asked as he looked her over, for some reason I really wanted my mother right now.

"Right here," Esme said as she came in the cave. Carlisle turned to her, his eyebrows raised. "Rose and Emmett are watching the twins. I called them as you ran inside so I could follow," she explained understanding from his look that he was wondering where the twins were as she'd stayed outside with them. He nodded and went back to examining the baby as Esme sat beside me while I watched. I clung to my mother worried and I didn't even really know what I worried about. She just ran her fingers through my short spiky hair in comfort. After a few minutes, Carlisle looked up at me and smiled.

"It seems you guys found her just in time. Beside being hungry still, wet and annoyed as all get out, she seems fine. I'll have to check her more thoroughly back at the house, but she seems fine. And, you're right Alice, she's a hybrid. But I can't tell what kind yet," he said. I smiled in relief as he put her back into my arms after wrapping her back into my jacket which I'd wrapped her in after Jazz and I had cleaned her up with the water and soap we'd found. I saw an understanding look cross his face and I wondered at it, but then he smiled and winked at me. At that moment I had a vision. It was just a picture on the mantle place at the house. Jazz and I posing for the camera. In my arms was this very little girl. A feeling of warmth spread across my chest and I placed my hand over my heart in wonder and confusion. Carlisle and Esme exchanged knowing smiles.

"Looks like we have another grandchild, Carlisle," Esme said with a huge grin on her face. I looked at my mother confused. She laughed at me as she kissed my forehead. "Alice dear, I know that look in your eyes. I've seen so often in both of your sisters and even myself when I look in the mirror. Your heart has already adopted her as your own. I would bet that you felt warmth spread across your chest, correct?" I nodded. "That's the feeling a woman gets when she holds her child," my mother explained. My eyes widened but I held the baby a little tighter against me. Was that what this was? Really? "Alice, I've always known that you and Jazz have felt a little left out since you're the only ones that have no children of your own," my mother told me softly as she held my head against her chest. "I've known it and I've felt sad along with you, not knowing how to help you both. Here's your chance, sweetheart. Your chance to feel just like your sisters and I feel," my mother whispered in my ear. I held the baby tighter to me. "Her mother's gone from the looks of things here and she needs someone to take care of her. I think you found her for a reason, Alice. She was meant to be yours and Jasper's, sweetheart."

I sobbed into my mother's chest as I held the baby tightly to me while my mother held my head to her chest as my father looked on with a goofy grin on his face which told me he knew what Esme and I had talked about despite the fact I knew Esme had whispered too low for even him to hear. There was also a glint in his smiling eyes which told me my poor Jazz was in for some heavy teasing now that he was a new dad, but would he even what to take this on. I mean it was one thing for me to want her, but would he? I saw another vision. It was Jazz sitting in a rocking chair reading a fairytale to the dark spot in his arms as he rocked back and forth. I knew this spot of darkness was the baby in my arms now but, like with all the hybrids, I could not see her. But the vision was clear in its message, he would want her. Jazz ran in at that moment with a young deer in his arms, he'd forgotten to take something with him to put the blood in, in his rush so he'd had to bring the animal back alive. The blood of a baby animal would be easier on her stomach as this would probably be her first taste of blood. Esme let me go and rinsed out the bottle we had used. It had been in a sealed package when we found it so we had felt safe in using it and had just boiled it as a precaution. Carlisle used the pocket knife he had with him for the twins' meals and made quick work of slicing the young deer's throat and gathering the blood, clearly showing Jazz the ropes of fatherhood, and the glint in his eyes told me he was enjoying it, all the while teasing Jazz about his new duties as a dad. My poor Jazz looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car as he looked at me, pleading with his eyes for me to rescue him, but I was getting much the same treatment from Esme as she showed me how to clean the baby and change her diaper, which we used from the baby bag she had with her. Carlisle then took the baby from my arms and pretty much dropped her into Jazz's arms telling him that I had already had my turn feeding the baby with milk and so it as his turn now to feed her the meal he'd brought for his daughter. Poor Jazz started chocking as he said the words 'his daughter' and I couldn't help but laugh at him as Carlisle pretty much had to force the bottle into his hand and gently shove his arm forward to feed the baby as Jasper had pretty much frozen in place. After that, Esme took my hand and grabbed Jasper as she led us out of the cave while Carlisle was left with the task of cleaning up the scene and getting rid of the body in case someone happened upon the site. He joined us back outside a few minutes later and the lot of us ran to the parking lot to meet up with Edward and Bella. All the wile Rose and Emmett had fun teasing me and Jazz about our early Christmas present.

 **Bella's POV**

Edward and I had been teasing each other on the run back to the parking lot. The kids were also having fun joking with us and Edward even picked up Akasha and started tickling her when she mentioned that his hair looked like a bird's nest after a branch left some dead leaves on it as he ran below it and didn't duck down to avoid it. I teased him about it too. And he started chasing me, but I quickly jumped up the trees to avoid his reaching fingers as I stole Akasha from his hands while the kids followed me up into the trees. We had a grand old time chasing and playing as we ran to the parking lot. As we broke through the trees I caught sight of our family, and smiled as I saw they were teasing Alice and Jazz about something. I looked my brother and sister over and froze in shock. Jazz was holding a baby girl in his arms, not so unusual, except that I did not know this baby. Edward and the kids froze along with me, but then Edward and I started laughing as we read Alice's excited mind and learned of their discovery. I quickly ran to my sister and gave her a congratulatory hug while Edward punched Jazz in the arm and promptly joined Emmett and Carlisle in teasing poor Jazz about his being a new daddy. I sent Jazz a wave of comfort and love to try and help him out with his shock and also the severe teasing he was getting. He smiled at me as he started bantering with the other boys while Alice took the baby from him. Once she was gone he promptly threw himself at his father and brothers and the 4 began a huge wrestling match. Or it would have been huge, except for the fact that we decided to break it up as the sun was going down and it was getting colder. Disappointed that their game was cut short, the boys quickly separated and we headed out to the cars to head home.

The wolf pack was shocked when we got home with the new baby but promptly joined in the teasing of poor Jasper as soon as we filled them in. Sue told me that the ribbing of new dads was something like a tradition or right of passage for males, all the while rolling her eyes along with Esme at the boys' antics. Apparently boys never really grew up, no matter how many centuries they had. I had an amusing thought of seeing them all wearing diapers and quickly sent the thought at the women in the group. The huge grins on their faces and the laughing that ensued told me that they were all in so I promptly used my fashion power to change all the boys clothes to large diapers, baby bonnets, bibs and rattles in their hands. It was absolutely hilarious. We took pictures for blackmail, with our cell phones as we made catcalls at them and teased them in baby voices. The wolf boys blushed ten shades of red as they attempted to cover themselves with their hands, while Carlisle and the boys glared at us, also trying to over themselves. "Well since you're acting like children, you should dress like them," I said. Edward growled at me as he started stalking me. I saw in his mind that he was planning to pounce on me planning to tickle me into submission, but I didn't let him. When he went to jump I used my telekinesis to grab him and stop him in mid air, before pressing him against the high sealing. "Now just what were you planning to do dear?" I said in my most innocent voice while giving him a teasing smile.

"Put me down!" he cried as he attempted to move, but couldn't.

I grinned, "As you wish," I said as I let him drop. Thank god for vampire reflexes which let him land on his feet. Unfortunately the knot on the right side of his cloth diaper came undone and exposed his hip. You couldn't see anything that wouldn't have been exposed if he were walking in a Speedo, but it did open Edward up to terrible teasing and catcalls from the boys as he quickly tied the diaper pack in place. If he could blush, he would have been twenty shades of red in his embarrassment. He glared at me, promising me payback later on as he quickly ran upstairs to change into the spare clothes in his room here at the main lodge, followed by all the other guys who still kept on teasing him. We women had a good laugh about the whole thing for the rest of the evening while we shared Christmas dinner with the pack and their families, our new family which now truly felt complete.

 **Chapter 16: New Powers**

 **Bella POV**

Christmas had been a lot of fun, particularly with the new addition to the family by the name of **Mary-Rose Haili Whitlock Cullen** whom we estimated as being roughly 2 days old when Alice and Jazz found her in that cave. The notebook they found proved to be very useful in revealing her past. Her mother was a prostitute named Alexandra Newman, known on the street as Cassie Dee, who worked for a pimp named Carrizo who in turn worked for the Alaskan king pin of crime known only as Mr. Big. The girl had been barely 18 years old when she fell pregnant by one of her regular costumers, the deputy mayor of Anchorage, Christian McGee. He was a vampire with an unusual talent, which allowed him to appear fully human, even gave the appearance that he aged so he was able to live completely inconspicuously. He had a human wife and two adopted sons as well as a promising carrier in politics, but liked frequenting the prostitutes. He had a standing contract with Alexandra so he was her only client and, therefore, the father, plus he was a vampire. Mr. Big found out about the pregnancy and decided to use the child to blackmail McGee, unknowing of what he actually was. But Alexandra loved her baby and chose to protect her so she ran away with her and gave birth at that cave all on her own. She was, however, found by Big's goons and killed but had managed to hide her baby well and the men had not found her. Not long after we found her, Big decided to use the knowledge of the existence of the baby, even though he didn't have her, against McGee, which ended up being a mistake as McGee ended up exposing Big's identity to the police and he was arrested soon after. McGee, however, did not get away scot-free. The Volturi had never been pleased with what he had done; with the way he was living his life. Not long after he exposed Big, a contingent of Volturi soldiers had come after him and killed him. We had gone to see him a few days before to inform him that we had his daughter since she belonged to him and discovered that she had actually been born a twin, she had a twin sister and that's whom Big used against McGee. He told us to keep the girl and even handed us his other daughter knowing what was coming for him. It had just been Alice and me that went to see him and we were the ones that informed him of what was coming as we had the vision. He nodded at us, unsurprised, he had know it was bound to happen.

McGee handed Alice the other little girl saying only that he had never wanted her but merely retrieved her from Big's hands so she couldn't be used against him. Alice took her and we left his office and returned home to inform our family what we had discovered. But not before I copied his gift. It would be useful to us later on. Two days later the Volturi came for him. Alice named her new daughter, **Demeter Amelia Whitlock Cullen** who joined her sister Mary-Rose at home with us. I informed the family of the gift I discovered in McGee, which I later learned wasn't all that useful after studying it once I copied it. It was only a trick of the mind and only worked to a certain extent, whoever wielded it could not appear any older than their early 30's to early 40's depending on how old they were physically when they froze. Since I froze at 18 it would only extend my age to 27 at most, any older and it would look strange. I was disappointed with it since I'd had high hopes for it, but there was no getting around it. Carlisle told me that it was at least useful in teaching me which gifts might appear useful at first glance but really weren't. It was true and now that I knew what to look for I wouldn't be fooled twice. When New Years came round this time it was a quiet affair. With the Volturi having been nearby we were all on edge, particularly as we only dodged them by two days. We decided to head on away from the resort for a few weeks so Carlisle informed the schools and his job that he was taking his family on vacation and we'd be gone a few weeks. Once that was done we all split up. Jake and Seth were very unhappy with being away from my girls for so long but really didn't have much of a choice as the wolf pack had chosen to stay behind at home. Edward, the kids and I chose to go on a trip to the places where the kids found the cashes of books, while Rose and Emmett chose to go to their vacation home near lake Victoria in Africa with their twins and Carlisle and Esme went to her island in South America with their twins while Alice and Jazz chose to stay close to home and go to New York. We were a little on edge with the trip to Pompeii so we made that one the shortest of the trips, good thing too since there were three guard members vacationing there. We never once got close to them, so I had no opportunity to copy their gifts and hightailed it out of Italy as soon as we saw them. It had been a risky endeavor but we had nothing to worry about as far as that went. And some good came out of it since Edward managed to get close enough to read their minds and saw no new knowledge of our family in it. It was a very small comfort but we would gladly take it.

The rest of the trip was uneventful until we reached the island of Hokkaido, our last stop before heading home. There Edward and I found that the temple was near a small village that had an unusual number of vampires living in it. They weren't a coven but rather 9 different families and some loners, 13 vampires in all. It was so curious that we chose to stay there for a while and spoke with the vampires. We learned that the village was a transitory city where vampires often gathered together and stayed a while, like Transylvania. None of the vampires there lived there very long, it was more like a vacation town for vampires which was why there were so many vampires there. But it was fruitful gathering as 3 of the vampires there had gifts, which I found to be very useful and copied. A vampire names, ironically enough, Isabella had an interesting gift I called Flora manipulation, which allowed her to make plans grow quickly and basically do her biding. I kind of tended to think of it as being like the gift that Batman's villain Poison Ivy's had. Michaela, a vampire from Russia, had a gift which allowed her to appear fully human, and hide her sparkling skin in the sun. It made her look like a vampire hybrid as she still retained her vampire traits but could mimic human traits like warmth of skin and blush of blood so it was very useful to us, particularly the bit about hiding the sparkle of our skin which would basically open the world up for us to live in inconspicuously. The last gift I copied was by far the most important. It belonged to Michaela's mate Jeremy. He had a talent to share talents. Not very useful to him since he had none to share, but oh so useful to me since it allowed me to share my gifts with whomever I chose. Of course these vampires had no idea I copied their gifts or anything I could do and no vampire ever so the children that traveled with us so there was nothing to be informed back to the Volturi just in case. This discovery however proved to come in very handy for our family and we quickly informed Carlisle of what we'd found and the gifts I'd copied. He was trilled with the new possibilities that could arise now that I could share gifts particularly as I saw the vision of the Volturi become a little more solid as we left Japan, which seriously troubled me.


End file.
